Life in Estonia. Spring 2019

No51 2 /2019

Estonia: the 5G world training ground The far-reaching startup ecosystem Developed by nature, actuated by science Germans discover digital ‘wonderland’ “Truth and Justice”, the quintessence of Estonianness Children's books artsy and humorous Estonian Song Celebration 150

Springtime in Tallinn / photo by Renee Altrov

Cover photo by Atko Januson

For a better planet Earth Where do information highways lead us? Looking around with the naked eye makes us realise that the world around us is immensely rich in information.

We see natural landscapes like forests, sea, woods, fields. These are pictures rich in details that human beings are able to perceive. The same is true of sound, whether it’s a busy city street or birds singing in the woods. Different smells, especially in natural environments, enrich our understanding of the world around us.

We don’t usually perceive them as information flows. This is the inborn ability of living organisms to receive information and, based on that information, carry life further. Through technological advancement, humankind has invented artificial ways to transmit information and communication. Starting from scripts written in stones, through to the telegraph, telephone, TV and on to the internet.

Executive publisher Positive Projects Pärnu mnt 69, 10134 Tallinn, Estonia lifeinestonia@positive.ee

The bandwidth and the detail of communicated information has grown tremendously over time.

Movies transmitted through the air reach us with detail and speed that was unthinkable even five years ago. The world has changed from natural communication to artificial environments that come ever closer to the limits of information transfer. We may call it a dawning era of total communication. Technological development has improved our lives but it is an everlasting challenge to ensure that it will contribute to the quality of life of humankind. This is a global challenge.

Editor Reet Grosberg reetgrosberg@positive.ee

Translations Ingrid Hübscher

How to turn these developments into increased productivity? How to make use of those broadband communication technologies to improve the health of the population? How will these technologies contribute to a cleaner environment and reverse the trend of climate change? How to make use of those technologies that contribute to happier lives for everybody on this planet: the young, middle-aged, old, those living in cities or the countryside, in the North, East, South, or West?

Language editor

Design & layout Positive Design

We at TalTech, and in Estonia in general, take these challenges most seriously. Together with Estonian and international partners, technical universities as well as companies like Telia and Ericsson, we are trying to contribute to solving these challenges. We push forward the frontiers of knowledge for a better planet Earth.

Photo by Karl-Kristjan Nigesen

Daniel Warren

Jaak Aaviksoo Rector of TalTech

Estonian Investment Agency supports companies investing and expanding in Estonia.

World-class human capital, unique digital capabilities and a competitive business environment make Estonia a smart, agile location for businesses with global ambitions. investinestonia.com

The production of the magazine has been inspired by green technology

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News & events

Arvato Financial Solutions expands Tallinn IT operations

Graphene-nose will be a canary in your pocket

Arvato Financial Solutions (AFS) Innovation & Development centre in Tallinn, a company of the worldwide Bertelsmann Group, which develops consumer payment solutions for e-commerce, has recently opened its new office in Telliskivi and plans to hire 30 more senior IT-specialists to grow its team to exceed 100 people.

While 5G communications networks along with the IoT are becoming part of everyday life, Estonian researchers at the University of Tartu are busy developing a graphene-based sensor nose. This breakthrough allows smartphone users to get immediate notifications about their environment.

17 Making stupid devices smart The Estonian company 1oT recently launched an eSIM card that will help any device equipped with a chip to connect to the internet and speak a common language with any other device while being independent from telecoms.

Märt Kroodo (32), the founder and CEO of 1oT, and his team have been building that dream for the past 3 years.Â

30 German business in Estonia: a cultural fit coupled with curiosity for the digital wonderland

22 The future will be born in Estonia The state as well as companies are taking decisive steps toward becoming a 5G test country.

In 2017, a significant framework contract was signed between TalTech, which offers higher education in tech, and the network operator Telia. They were joined by the global technology leader Ericsson. Estonia is already an international leader when it comes to 5G-related activities.

An interview with Christoph Eichhorn, the outgoing ambassador of Germany.

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39 Estonian natural cosmetics are full of science Algae, various oils, turf, healing mud – natural cosmetics these days are about so much more than a fruity body scrub or a basic spa product.

Mixed together with help from top-level scientific research, natural components are triumphing over the oil-based chemical products that have dominated the market until now.

Company run by an e-resident is shaping the future of satellite communication Golbriak Space is a small, Tallinn-based aerospace company developing a satellite that will bring satellite to satellite communication to the 21st century using optical communication solutions. The company is run by an Estonian e-resident, Simone Briatore, who, although a citizen of the EU, still benefits extra from e-Residency.

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43 Metsä Wood brings the modern plywood industry to Estonia The Metsä Wood mill is the size of three football fields and is located in a Pärnu suburb.

The production process currently takes place in three shifts, five days a week. One year after its launch, the 55-million-euro plywood mill is working in full-gear.

47 COMODULE connects electric vehicles to the internet When founded, COMODULE saw a real need for a modular battery management system.

Over the years, the idea has matured into more of an IoT solution for small electric vehicles.

At the moment, COMODULE is offering two solutions for short-term electric scooter rental companies: either the full service or the device and API. There are over 60 000 COMODULE devices active at the moment, but the company aims to hit 100 000 by this summer.

50 PORTFOLIO. Illustration of Estonian children’s books: varied, humorous and artsy Without a doubt, our world of imagination would be much poorer without the stories

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we read in childhood. Many characters have become symbols, expressing certain mindsets.

Such vivid symbols cannot exist without the faces and shapes given to them by illustrators.

This fact highlights the role of the artist with a very thick and noticeable marker. Take a look at what Estonia has to offer.

64 “Truth and Justice”, a stunning panorama on being Estonian Estonian cinema is in a very good place after the nation’s 100th anniversary in 2018 as several outstanding films were made to celebrate the centennial. One of the most anticipated films made was the period drama “Truth and Justice”, based on the literary classic by the same name. If you know this story, you know the essence of Estonians and their culture.

72 Urmo Aava: ‘Innovative thinking brings the world’s best rally drivers to Estonia.’

The WRC has done a good job of introducing Estonia to the wider world. The recent success of the team Tänak-Järveoja has really raised awareness. Urmo Aava, Director of Shell Helix Rally Estonia, taking place from the 12th to 14th of July in South Estonia, talks about how to take advantage of Estonia’s small size, the trust and expectations of the state, private supporters and international organisations, as well as the likelihood of having the WRC stage take place in Estonia.

76 Along the border between East and West

68 150 years of Estonian Song Celebrations Estonia is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Song Celebration this July. The grand event, titled this year “My Fatherland is My Love”, will bring more than 30 000 singers and dancers on stage at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds. As Peeter Perens, one of the creators of the artistic concept of the 27th song celebration puts it, ‘Our descendants have to be able to look back to our era and understand us through the songs and music created today’.

Ashwin Bhardwaj is a travel writer and filmmaker at The Telegraph. In his new travel podcast Edgelands, he undertook a 5000-mile overland journey along Russia’s western border, including a stop in Estonia, to explore the line between East and West. During this trip, he experienced Easter and canoeing the #EstonianWay.

79 Events calendar: Highlights from April to August

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by Maris Orav

Photos by Atko Januson

Renewed e-Estonia Briefing Centre teaches the world how to build digital states

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Facts about the e-Estonia Briefing Centre • • •

• •

In February, the e-Estonia Briefing Centre, previously known as the e-Estonia Showroom, opened its new and unique visiting centre in Ülemiste City, Tallinn. The Centre aims to educate global policy-makers, companies, academics, experts and investors on how to transform societies into digital societies.

Blazing a digital trail In Estonia, 99% of public services are accessible online round the clock. Digital solutions are used for voting, filing taxes, in education and health; people around the world can register themselves as e-residents and much more.

According to the President of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, e-solutions have made Estonia an honest, transparent and efficient country. ‘We have set an example for Europe, and now have a following. It’s time to help guide them to a more flexible 21st century and show how to operate as an e-state,’ she said in her speech at the opening.

received more than 800 delegations and close to 9000 guests in 2018, exceeding the previous year by 20%. ‘Our e-story is unique and fascinates the international community, and a number of e-solutions, which seem common to us, are still utopian to a large part of the world,’ she added. There is a growing global interest in understanding how to adopt one or another e-solution and Estonia is turned to for guidance. The Briefing Centre helps to bring interested parties from foreign countries together with those Estonian businesses that provide our e-solutions and thereby increase Estonia’s export of e-services.

Established in 2009 Represents 50 companies (and growing) 52 000 visitors from 4000 delegations in total since opening 10 employees Size of the new centre: 500m²

active games that invite them to build their own e-state and, in contrast, experience the labyrinth of bureaucracy. The digital exposition introduces the e-services the Estonian state provides in depth, which are still unavailable in most countries. These include digital identity, X-road, i-Voting, e-Tax Board, e-Residency, and many more. Estonian technology and software companies’ solutions are also on display, including those of Nortal, Cybernetica, Guardtime, Helmes, Veriff, Icefire, Proekspert and more.

Over the years, the Briefing Centre has been visited by the King of the Netherlands Willem-Alexander, the President of Austria Alexander Van der Bellen, the Foreign Minister of Australia Julie Bishop, the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel, New Zealand`s Minister of Interior Peter Dunne and large corporations like Deutsche Post, Google, Baker Hughes General Electric, Novartis, Fujitsu and many others.

Growing interest The exposition The number of delegations coming to the e-Estonia Briefing Centre has been growing yearly. According to Liina Maria Lepik, the Managing Director of the Briefing Centre, it

The centre focuses on innovative and customised digital solutions and the visitors are taken on an e-journey enhanced by interLI F E I N ESTON IA N o 51

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Photos by Tõnu Tunnel

Breaking boundaries and leading the way in settling in – Estonian edition

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The International House of Estonia (IHE) opened its doors in November 2018 and since then it has attracted increasing visitor numbers weekly. ‘Good news spreads by word of mouth. Many of our customers say they heard about us from their HR department or other colleagues who found good advice and assistance. That is great to hear, because it shows we are on the right track,’ says Annely Tank, Manager of IHE. Founded by eight institutions – Enterprise Estonia, Mainor, the Ministry of Interior Affairs, the City of Tallinn, the Unemployment Board, Integration Foundation, Police and Border Guard and the Tax and Customs Board, – the service centre brings together various public services three days a week, in order to help new foreign specialists in adapting to Estonian society and to alleviate the work of employers.

The main target groups of the IHE are foreign specialists arriving in Estonia, their Estonian employers and people returning to Estonia.

‘Normally, you have to consume public services all over the local government district, traipsing from one institution to another, which wastes valuable time for companies and specialists. Our current track record is 58 minutes.

During this time, the customer received information and services from four different public bodies. This seemed unrealistic earlier, but we have managed to prove that it is indeed possible to save time,’ explains Annely Tank.

The house works on the principle of public institutions collaborating. Consultants from the founding institutions, who advise foreign specialists on a daily basis, work one or two days of the week at the International House in Ülemiste City. At other times, they are based in their respective organisations. ‘It is good to see that the advisers like it here,’ says Michaela Snopkova, Administrator at the International House. Michaela herself arrived in Estonia as a foreigner and therefore understands the concerns and joys that relocation may entail. Of Czech origin, she studied in Paris and Tartu and speaks Estonian very well: she says that many customers are surprised to learn about her story. Annely adds that, thanks to Michaela’s excellent Estonian skills and her experience of integrating into Estonian society, different customers have an easier time finding a common language with the International House.

The services include consultancy, which helps when adapting to Estonian life, migration consultation, living advice to foreign specialists and their employers, applying for an ID code for foreigners, registering the place of residence, career counselling and business counselling. As public services, all those services are free of charge but it is recommended that one pre-books a time. ‘The booking helps us to see which questions clients need advice with, hence we can do a better job. Sometimes the issues people need advice on are very simple,

we are able to answer straight away and the customer doesn’t even have to turn up. This helps us to save the customer’s time and we can have free time slots for other clients,’ explains Annely.

The International House of Estonia is part of the Enterprise Estonia project “Work in Estonia”, which aims to help Estonian companies find and keep extraordinarily skilled specialists from all over the world.

‘Every year, more and more foreign specialists arrive in Estonia and I am happy that we as representatives of the country can help make their lives and the lives of their employers much easier,’ says Triin Visnapuu-Sepp, Programme Manager of “Work in Estonia”. In addition to the services of the International House, the programme offers assistance to foreign specialists and companies with many other important services, shares information about working in Estonia, administers English language job adverts, offers foreign employment support and counselling to companies, and organises various campaigns like Career Hunt.

‘Together with our team and our target groups we are breaking boundaries. We are not afraid to test and try out things because our aim is to be a reliable partner for Estonian companies and hence benefit society at large. When we talk about our activities in the world, nobody believes that we only employ six people,’ laughs Annely.

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President Kaljulaid unveils e-Residency 2.0 Estonia’s fast growing e-resident population will have more opportunities in the future to learn about Estonian culture and more opportunities to connect with Estonians who can help grow their businesses.

These changes are part of a wide range of measures unveiled by Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid to develop e-Residency 2.0, the name for the next stage of the programme’s development.

Estonia became the first country to offer e-Residency more than four years ago and has since developed the programme as a “government startup“. There are now more than 50 000 e-residents around the world who have created more than 6000 new Estonian companies as a result. More than half of the growth came in just the last year.

The planning for e-Residency 2.0 was led by President Kaljulaid and the e-Residency programme team, but has involved a wide range of stakeholders across the public and private sector, including representatives of all groups

already involved in dealing with e-residents – from private accountants to law enforcement.

They were all given an opportunity to provide feedback on the development of the programme so far and shape its future direction across areas including business, law, technology, society and culture. A key aim of e-Residency 2.0 is to involve even more Estonians in the programme by giving them more opportunities to connect and serve the growing e-resident market. There are already a range of companies across Estonia that are partly or entirely built around the e-resident market.

While this process was ongoing, Estonia’s Parliament also approved a change to the law to remove a significant barrier for e-residents.

From the start of this year, Estonian companies have the freedom to use accounts from banks or financial technology companies across Europe for all their business banking.

To lead the development of e-Residency 2.0, Ott Vatter has now been appointed Managing Director of the programme. Vatter initially joined e-Residency temporarily to help launch

President Kersti Kaljulaid

Ott Vatter

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the programme, but has remained an integral part of the programme’s development ever since.

During that time, the programme’s goals have repeatedly shifted in order to focus more specifically on ensuring the programme brings more benefits to both e-residents and Estonians. Last year, the goal was to double the number of new companies established by e-residents from 2500, although an additional 3195 were actually added. The goal this year is to improve both the quality and quantity of new companies by measuring the growth of e-resident companies and their contributions to Estonia. e-residents contributed approximately €10 million in additional taxation and state fees last year, although the largest contribution to the Estonian economy comes when e-residents conduct business with other Estonian companies. ‘e-Residency is now generating a healthy income for Estonia, which indicates how e-residents are using the programme to build successful businesses around the world,’ explains Vatter. ‘That means we are now longer in our “startup”-phase of development, but will continue to invest in improving the user-friendliness of the programme and adding more value to the lives of e-residents. During the planning for e-Residency 2.0, we also recognised that e-residents see the programme as being about much more than business and want more opportunities to explore Estonian culture. We’re really excited about how we can deliver that.’

You can learn more about e-Residency and read the e-Residency 2.0 whitepaper at: e-resident.gov.ee

The 5th international e-Governance Conference: same goals, different roadmaps The e-Governance Conference is the biggest e-governance event in Estonia, gathering more than 300 e-governance enthusiasts from government, academia and the business sector of 70+ countries. This year, the conference, taking place on the 21st – 22nd of May 2019 in Tallinn, focuses on digital transformation roadmaps, which governments are implementing to achieve their digital and development goals. The conference gives a closer look at future e-governance trends to set brave goals and plan the next steps in the country.

The programme includes the most interesting and forward-looking developments in Estonia as well as case studies from African countries, the Caribbean region, Canada, Finland and

Japan on how cooperation between countries, regions, institutions and sectors empowers innovation.

A high-ranking line-up of speakers is topped by the President of Estonia, Ms. Kersti Kaljulaid, and the President of Rwanda, who also serves as Chairman of the Smart Africa Initiative, H.E Mr. Paul Kagame. The keynote presentations on lessons learned in cross-border cooperation between and within EU and African countries will be made by the European Commission Vice-President, Mr. Andrus Ansip, and African Union Commissioner Dr. Amani Abou-Zeid. egovconference.ee

Summer gathering of the Friends of Estonia

Photo by Raigo Pajula

Estonia could not have realised its seemingly impossible goals without the support of its good friends. Estonia is still open to good advice and welcomes you to one of the most economically dynamic and culturally vibrant countries in Europe. We do hope that by combining serious but informal discussions with different social and cultural events we can refresh our acquaintance with the Estonia of today and tomorrow.

The first Estonia’s Friends International Meeting (EFIM) was held in summer 2010, and has been a joint initiative launched by the former President of Estonia Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, Enterprise Estonia and the entrepreneur Mr. Margus Reinsalu, to thank and recognise business, political and cultural figures whose actions and advice have

helped Estonia to become a truly European country with a dynamic economy and thriving culture.

Every year, a slightly different selection of friends is invited to Estonia, since the organisers would like Estonia to have a variety of good and influential friends all over the world.

The 8th Estonia’s Friends International Meeting will take place on July 5th 2019. This year’s gathering is a one-day event and the highlight of the day will be the symposium “Quo vadis Estonia?” which focuses on the topic of development in the digital age. The expected 120 guests will also visit the Stenbock House – the working premises of the Prime Minister of Estonia, and enjoy concerts of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and 27th Song and 20th Dance Celebrations.

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Just a few of our speakers Morten Lund Investor & serial entrepreneur Nazma Qurban Chief Revenue Officer of Cognism Péter Halácsy the founding father of Prezi technology, CEO of the Budapest School Cristina Fonesca Co-founder of Talkdesk Jamie Burke CEO of Outlier Ventures

Photos by Annika Haas

Latitude59: the place to be for people serious about startups, investing, and the future of governance Estonia’s flagship startup & tech event welcomes local players and international founders, investors and guests in Tallinn on the 16th-17th of May. At the heart of our programme this year will be wider themes of our future – improving STEM education, ethics and challenges in health-related data, cyber hygiene and safety etc. We’ll also host active sessions on a range of topics, where we want to hear more from you – the audience.

Startups can take part in several pitch competitions (total prize value 300K EUR), a demo area for early and seed stage startups, and let’s not forget the wide variety of side events, making the air of Tallinn thick with tech topics.

We’re in Estonia, the world’s pioneering digital country.

Come and see for yourself!

More info & tickets: www.latitude59.ee

Investor Day by Invest Estonia Wednesday, The 15th of May at 14:00

This year’s Investor Day focuses on proactive networking in a more casual format and creating valuable conversations between the 150 attending angels and VCs. We welcome both investors who are already investing in the region as well as those who are interested in learning more about the opportunities.

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2018: Records for the Estonian startup sector & support of the ecosystem

By Maarika Truu, Startup Estonia

The last few years have shown that the Estonian startup ecosystem is becoming more attractive. Our startups are raising record amounts of investments, our Startup Visa program is one of the most successful in the world and the whole sector is growing at a fast pace. Yes, we are being noticed. Why is that? Well, a lot of it has to do with the ease of doing business, e-services provided by the government and a good reputation as a digital country. But there’s so much more.

Diving into the numbers There are currently around 550 startups in Estonia from a variety of sectors including Fintech, Greentech and beyond. While looking at the main indicators – number of people employed (3763 in 2018), employment taxes paid (46M EUR in 2018) – we are seeing a steady 30% yearly growth in the sector.

The top 20 startups in Estonia account for an astonishing 62% of the new jobs created by startups in 2018. TransferWise has been the biggest recruiter (+239) followed by Bolt (formerly Taxify) (+92), Monese (+57), Veriff (+54) and Pipedrive (+53). Veriff has shown the biggest increase percentage-wise, with +490% employee growth in their Estonian office. They also just announced that they have hit the 100 employee mark in all of their offices and that they are looking to add 100 more people in the next 6 months.

Another important element of a successful startup ecosystem are investments. Since 2010, the proportion of investments raised from abroad for Estonian startups has been growing year-by-year, reaching the highest percentage in 2018 (96.3%). The increased interest of foreign investors confirms that

Estonian startups are being noticed globally, we have a strong startup ecosystem and a credible, transparent, business environment.

In 2018, investments into Estonian startups have, for the first time, exceeded 300M EUR, reaching 328M EUR announced publicly. By far the biggest investment (150M EUR) was made into Bolt (formerly Taxify) and that investment round upgraded Bolt to unicorn status. Bolt was followed by Pipedrive (43M EUR+8.7M EUR), Monese (51.6M EUR), Starship Technologies (21.4M EUR) and Realeyes (13.5M EUR). So far, Estonia has produced four billion-dollar unicorns: Skype, Playtech, TransferWise and Bolt as well as a dozen other startups valued over 100M EUR each.

Supportive ecosystem A huge role in the development of our startup ecosystem is played by organisations and service providers who support the growth of our startups. At the end of 2018 we counted 103 such organisations, meaning we have roughly 1 organisation per 5 startups! The ‘’by-product’’ of support organisations is a strong giving-back mentality within its network of mentors, with entrepreneurs who have been active for more than 10 years in Estonian startups like Fortumo, TransferWise, Bolt, Starship Technologies and Pipedrive.

The strength of our ecosystem is definitely its people – thought leaders who help to shape the ecosystem with new endeavours.

Talent attraction Our startup ecosystem might be small but it is very international. The key role of increasing the international community over the past two years has been performed by the Estonian Startup Visa. The Startup Visa helps non-EU founders grow their startup in Estonia and it also makes it easy for Estonian startups to hire non-EU talent. In the first two years since the launch, we have received 1108 applications from more than 80 countries and 931 people altogether have relocated to Estonia or been granted the right to do so. Although we are expecting more and more founders to find their way to Estonia and become employers themselves, it is clear that the need for talent in Estonian startups is growing significantly.

2018 was a record year of investments in Estonian startups; we see that the funds are directly connected to the increase in available jobs. There are jobs available not only for developers but also marketers, sales people, customer support, designers, etc.

Startup Estonia is a governmental initiative aimed to supercharge the local startup ecosystem in order to see many more startup success stories to come from Estonia. For that, we are working on making Estonia one of the world's best places for startups.

More about us: startupestonia.ee LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 51

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Photos by Peeter Põldre

Global Estonians coming home for ESTO 2019

By Marcus Kolga, President of the Estonian Central Council in Canada, a member of the ESTO 2019 organizing committee and co-founder of globalestonian.com

‘The majority of Estonians live inside our historical homeland and that remains the only possible boundary for our national state. But in addition, there are thousands of other places in the world where we can find Estonian homes, where Estonian organisations have been created, and where people live Estonian lives. As a whole, our nation has a global reach and is a complex interconnected society which will continue and to which our future will remain connected. I name this, our current and future identity, Global Estonian-ism.’ – Walter Rand “Eestlus on looming” 1994, Loomingu Raamatukogu.

The Estonian government estimates that 200 000 Estonian citizens are currently living outside of Estonia. This does not include all the descendants of the nearly 100 000 who fled Estonia in the fall of 1944, many of whom have not claimed their citizenship. Taken as a percentage of Estonia’s national population – meaning those who permanently reside in Estonia – the number is large, especially considering that there could be many thousands who may in some way identify as Estonians while not being citizens.

While the Estonian identity of recent Estonian emigres may not be identical to those of the old refugee communities, due to different family and personal experiences, the bonds that connect us and the common interest in heritage and often language should be nurtured, and developed, with the help of the Estonian government, to create, as Walter Rand (a Canadian-Estonian engineer and historian) first

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ESTO 2018 in Toronto, Canada

named, a Global Estonian identity and community that breaks through all state borders, oceans and continents to connects us all.

Over the past years, Estonian government resources and efforts have been focused on bringing Estonians “back home”. As commendable and important as these efforts are, equal or more effort should be placed on ensuring that these people maintain their Estonian identities and that it is passed along through future generations.

Let’s face it, many of the 200 000 who are living abroad have established new lives in new places. Many will have overcome major challenges to establish their news lives – which makes turning back an unrealistic and even undesirable option.

Yet many of those Estonians living abroad still maintain elements of their cultural heritage – some more than others. They may speak Estonian at home with their children or may even send them to local Estonian supplementary schools if they’re lucky enough to have such opportunities in their cities – summer camps for those who are among the luckiest.

They may sing in Estonian choirs or dance in folk dancing groups. Some may simply follow a local Estonian Facebook group or read occasional news. Some may travel back to Estonian occasionally to maintain their identity.

One thing is certain: when people connect with their Estonian identity, they are more likely to

actively support other aspects of their heritage and identity. We cheer for Estonian teams or athletes who participate in international competitions, for Estonian films that are nominated for international awards, and Estonian entrepreneurs and companies that compete on the world stage – just as in any other area.

Today Estonia has the opportunity to connect with these Global Estonians and harness the vast potential of this powerful identity to help support Estonian culture, sport, business and ideas around the world. To help each other overcome and achieve and realize our potential as individuals and as a global community.

Our nation was split by occupying forces during the Second World War, when thousands fled to Sweden, Canada, USA, Australia, the UK and elsewhere, while those who remained endured 50 years of repressive Soviet occupation. These experiences, as a whole, are part of our global, national identity and should be embraced as part of our Global Estonian identity.

The ESTO festivals that have been taking place since the first one held were organised in Toronto 1972, with the aim of keeping Estonian culture alive abroad. Thousands of Estonians from around the world would travel to participate in the ESTO song and dance festivals and also advocate for Estonian independence.

ESTO 2019 keeps that spirit alive by celebrating the achievements and culture of Estonians around the world in Estonia from the 27th of

June – 3rd of July 2019 in Tallinn, in cooperation and partnership with the Song and Dance Celebration. Beginning in Helsinki, Global Estonians will be joined by the President of Estonia to open ESTO 2019, which will be followed by an opening gala party on a Tallink ship bound for Tallinn. From there, busses will take ESTO 2019 festival participants to Tartu where an exhibit about the history of diaspora Estonians will open along with a song festival on Tartu Town Hall Square. Participants will then return to Tallinn to join Song and Dance Celebration practices while mini-conferences for heritage learning, community infrastructure, entrepreneurs and public diplomacy will take place. On the 1st of July, a large Canada Day celebration will close out the day at ESTO 2019, and the whole event will end with a gala celebration at the Seaplane Harbour of the Maritime Museum. Over 2500 Global Estonians will be participating in ESTO 2019 from around the world. Youth and international community networking aimed at strengthening future global community cohesion will be a primary focus of the event.

ESTO 2019 will hopefully renew an old tradition in a new format to bring Global Estonians together in Estonia – to celebrate their global culture and achievements as one.

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JCI World Congress 2019 ‘Pure Magic!’

In 2019, from the 4th until the 8th of November, JCI will host the largest conference ever held in Estonia. This international conference, concentrating on leadership and entrepreneurship, will give participants an inspiring and joyful conference experience and introduce Estonia globally as an attractive place to travel and do business.

The JCI World Congress takes place annually in different countries. It is organised by the members of the Junior Chamber International organisation. Estonians are proud to be granted the right to organise the conference in 2019.

4500-5000 participants from 5 continents and over 100 countries are expected.

The conference program includes around 200 different events over 5 days, world class keynotes, trainings, inspiring workshops, seminars, company visits, a trade show and an amazing entertainment program.

Focus themes: November 5th Transformation Day This key day is all about personal growth – about transforming your mindset and habits to be able to create magic in your life and success for your business.

November 6th and 8th Digital Innovation Days This program focuses on the future of technology and the digital world and how it impacts businesses and people. As part of the program, we also share the success stories of world-famous Estonian unicorn companies (TransferWise, Playtech, Bolt, formerly Taxify). In addition, the program includes a 48-hour hands-on hackathon in multiple streams where you can develop your business idea into a prototype or create new innovative products and services for an existing business. Digital Innovation Day includes a presentation and workshops by the Estonian Investment Agency showing the Estonian/ Nordic business ecosystem and the possibilities of expanding your business into our region.

November 8th Clean World Day During this day, you will be introduced to the ‘Keep It Clean Plan’ for the sustainability of the planet. Come and learn how to implement programs based on the Clean Up Day experience, discover the concept of sustainable business and empower yourself to impact policy-making as an active citizen.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you on the 4th-8th of November at the Pure Magic JCI World Congress 2019! www.jciwc2019.com

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Photo by Atko Januson

Making stupid devices smart

By Ede Schank Tamkivi

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‘In essence, we will operate as their sales team bringing them more traffic using the existing networks’

The Estonian company 1oT recently launched an eSIM card that will help any device equipped with a chip to connect to the internet and speak a common language with any other device while being independent from telecoms.

Your fridge is running out of milk and bread but instead of facing an empty stomach when you get back home late in the evening, there will be food waiting for you in a Starship robot outside of your front door.

Your fridge has already notified your online grocery store and the goods have been delivered outside of your front door (in the future by a drone to your Cleveron box?). This is how the story of the Internet of Things (IoT) is usually illustrated.

This is not a dream that is years away, it is already happening. There is an abundance of smart devices that just need to be connected to the internet in order to be able to communicate with each other. This is where 1oT comes in. Märt Kroodo (32), the founder and CEO of 1oT, and his team have been building that dream for the past 3 years. ’We just launched the 1oT eSIM card that enables our clients to swap between pre-negotiated telecom services “over-the-air”, without the need to physically change the SIM card,’ Märt explains. The first-ever consumer eSIM device was already launched back in 2015 – the Samsung Gear S2 smartwatch –, followed by the Google Pixel 2 smartphone. ’It is a matter of a year or two until eSIM becomes a standard solution.

Tesla, Apple and other big conglomerates have launched eSIMs for their own use but this technology is not available for smaller market players,’ Märt points out. ’Telecoms themselves, however, are not interested in pushing eSIM technology to the market as they enjoy the lock-in situation the traditional SIM card technology is offering.’

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1oT is carrying out this tedious task of gathering many telecom deals together and talking the telecoms into making the swapping between their networks possible. It took 1oT two years to persuade one big carrier (not to point any fingers) into signing a deal. ’In essence, we will operate as their sales team bringing them more traffic using the existing networks.’ They have 12 telecoms integrated with 1oT services so far, and have already made 3-4 of them very happy while being their top service resellers.

Switching off the City of Angels Until now, 1oT’s main clients have mostly been the producers of smart devices such as light vehicles, tracking devices, smart city solution providers, and wind turbines. ’All of these above-mentioned device producers and service providers are our potential customers – if they do business globally and have to decide in the production cycle which SIM to use, 1oT will be a no brainer.’

The biggest target market for 1oT is currently electric scooter sharing, providing connectivity service to some of the four-letter US & European market players like Uber, Lime, Lyft, Bird and Bolt. Their platform enables these providers to control their SIM cards: they can see where SIMs are located, set up data limits, switch SIMs on & off and so on. One client could have hundreds of thousands of scooters, and that is a lot of SIMcards to be in charge of and to track.

‘We just launched the 1oT eSIM card that enables our clients to swap between pre-negotiated telecom services “over-the-air”, without the need to physically change the SIM card’

Rain Rannu angel investor and founder of Mobi Solutions Group:

Photo by Atko Januson

Sometimes there are setbacks and technology can fail. ’Once in Los Angeles the entire T-Mobile network switched off because all of the scooters in the city started system upgrading simultaneously,’ Märt recalls.

This is where smart devices can still behave quite stupidly and there is a vast field of opportunities to make them smarter yet.

Besides the element of comfort – of not having to change the SIM-card – there is an obvious advantage of energy saving: for example, in the case of smart city solutions, the street lights do not have to be on all the time – if a car drives by, the light will automatically switch on and then off again. In the end, it will help to bring down the cost for the end user and make processes more efficient.

We have been in the business for over 15 years and have seen the rise in the importance of the cellular data network combined with opportunities in the market. The cellular data network has several advantages over WiFi and other technologies in providing a communication platform for smart devices. Yet it has been difficult for the producers of the smart devices to understand the demands of the service providers. We saw an opportunity to build a new platform for the producers to provide their customers with easy-access data.

1oT has a similar business model in the field of cellular data as does Fortumo in the field mobile payments and Messente in SMS-messaging. Still the potential market is so much bigger due to new technologies like eSIM. Europe is the leader in eSIM and other new cellular technologies and 1oT has every opportunity to become a leader in this field.

I had known Märt from Click & Grow where he had already obtained the experience of building a smart device. As it happened, Märt was looking for new challenges while I was looking for someone to help me cofound 1oT. Märt quickly found a great match with the field and the team.

Plants as pets Having obtained his MSc in Finance from the University of Portsmouth in the UK, Märt worked in stock analysis for Swedbank. After 3 years he got bored, although he remarks that ’only in Estonia can someone so young be allocated such responsibility’.

He moved on to Ernst&Young where his first client happened to be Click & Grow, an Estonian startup developing urban farming technology. They were in search of another investor, which Märt failed to find as a consultant, but decided to join the startup as a team member to finish his job.

During his time at Click & Grow, they moved their headquarters to the US and joined Y Combinator, the startup accelerator that has helped push Dropbox and Airbnb to the market. Additionally, they switched production to China and raised another 2 million dollars for the company.

Communicating with the cellular network providers and building a platform (to host a variety of providers) is a difficult and detail-heavy task that demands a strong sense of analytical thinking. Märt has a good command of all of the above.

What I like about about Märt is the rarely seen combination of a good cofounder and a great leader. He can and will build things with his own hands as one has to in the early stages of founding a company. While doing so he is also good at leading and motivating the others because nobody can build a successful company alone. He has a powerful engine to do things and an ambition to build a globally successful company. Feet on the ground, eyes in the skies.

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Kristjan Maruste CEO and cofounder of COMODULE: I knew Märt in high-school. For as long as I remember he has shined. Few people have an internal flame that lights up everything around them. The type of guy whose laugh is so contagious that no matter how bad the joke was you end up laughing together.

‘In a few years’ time there will be devices and services we cannot even dream of today and we will have to keep up’ with these changes. 1oT will do its best to make this revolution happen quicker in the world.’

Aside from his unlimited optimism, Märt defined the “get shit done” concept. He is a hustler in the best meaning of it. In our collaboration in business there have been many issues but he always picks up the phone and does everything in his power to solve the problems.

In my life, I try to surround myself with people who always see the bright side of things. Märt is one.

‘If they do business globally and have to decide in the production cycle which SIM to use, 1oT will be a no brainer’

Grow big but never grow up The American model of raising a lot of capital also taught Märt that it is somewhat similar to using doping in sports: just making yourself look bigger in order to raise even more capital. ’In Europe we do not burn money as heavily as they do in the US,’ he points out. 1oT has been really frugal in both their funding as well as spending. Unlike many other startups, 1oT applied for EU funding and received 1.4 million euros from Horizon 2020. They now have 30 people divided between two offices in Estonia: one in Tartu and the other in Tallinn. Still, Märt will not settle for enjoying the beautiful view from his Tallinn office window, looking into the serene pine forest surrounding Lake Ülemiste, the source of drinking water for the people of Tallinn as well as an old myth that once the construction of the city is finished, it will be drowned by the lake. Being a restless soul, constantly seeking ways to better himself and the product, Märt has been spending time in a coworking space in Berlin as well as a small sales office in London.

It comes as no surprise that Märt used to be an athlete as a student. His distance was 400m, both flat and hurdles. But he was pushing himself too hard and ended up in a vicious cycle of injuries so he had to quit even before his career as an athlete really took off.

’I still think it’s an amazing product and it has a lot of potential as an urban farming device or as a modern pet,’ says Märt, summarising this period in his life. He learned a lot, both from building the product as well as the time spent at Y Combinator, which offered useful insight into how to make things work.

In hindsight, it was great to be in Silicon Valley as there are so many likeminded people around you but nothing will replace the small family-like Estonian startup ecosystem where everybody supports each other and will give you honest criticism. ’The feedback you get from your customers is the most valuable way to better the product. We are in constant learning-mode in 1oT and are keeping the mentality of students as part of our company culture. We constantly remind ourselves of those three important values: #WeAreStudents #GetShitDone #NoBullshit.’

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’Compared to other fields of life, things happen much faster in sports. You train and right away see results. This is all building up adrenaline. Startuppers, similar to athletes, tend to be like junkies who just want to keep running faster, climbing higher, constantly pushing their limits. But no matter how fast we run, the telecom industry is rather slow to pick up.’

He still uses some of the elements from athletics in his current work: ’You have to visualise the track ahead of you. Currently 1oT is at its first milestone – we have 300 000 SIMs across the world and we just launched the eSIM – and our next goal is to become the biggest company in the Mobi Solutions Group, and in few years’ time, end up becoming the world leader in providing global connectivity for smart devices,’ Märt envisions. ’But in a few years’ time there will be devices and services we cannot even dream of today and we will have to keep up with these changes. 1oT will do its best to make this revolution happen quicker in the world.’

Photo by Atko Januson

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By Tanel Saarmann

The state and companies are taking decisive steps to become a 5G test country

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Photo by Jelena Rudi

The future will be born in Estonia

‘Estonia sets the aim of achieving 5G connectivity in its larger cities and suburbs by 2023 and in transport corridors by 2025’

Corporations and the government are taking steps to make Estonia a leading country for 5G and the Internet of Things (IoT). In 2017, a significant framework contract was signed between TalTech, which offers higher education in tech, and the network operator Telia.

They were joined by the global technology leader Ericsson. One of the most important aspects of this cooperation is to establish a 5G Demo Campus on the territory of TalTech, a meeting place for global and Estonian 5G experts with the aim of creating future technologies. Simultaneously, the Estonian government is about to complete a 5G roadmap establishing future activities and investments that the state is prepared to make. Estonia is already a leader or among the top in the world when it comes to various 5G-related activities.

The Swedish electronics giant Ericsson is carrying out 5G tests in dozens of places all around the world. One of the central countries in this process is Estonia, where the company has a factory and employs over 1500 staff. They have chosen Telia and TalTech to be their main partners. Gert Jervan, Dean of the Information Technology Department at TalTech, says that the interest of leading companies and the know-how and customer portfolio they bring are exactly what Estonia needs.

Gert Jervan

‘We are the first known companies in the world to bring data volumes to regular users via 5G technology, and to date, thousands of Tallink clients have used this opportunity. This is even more significant as all our 5G tests to date have taken place with a moving, not stationary, terminal,’ says Dan Strömberg, former Chairman of the Board of Telia Eesti, with pride.

First global presentation in Tallinn ‘Estonia certainly has some unique sales arguments for why companies should come here to develop 5G-based technologies, but the activities and decisions made by large corporations carry more weight,’ says Jervan.

One cannot underestimate that Estonia’s competence in technology is well-known and we also have inhabitants who are very technology friendly. Hence it is easy to develop and implement solutions here.

Robert Pajos, COO of Telia Eesti, emphasises Estonia’s innovative attitude which forms the basis for everything. ‘In Telia we have our own programme which supports the development of new ideas by our workers and partners. The Telia corporation has faith in Telia Estonia.

They know that we think innovatively,’ claims Pajos and adds that Estonia has the advantage of a small country – it is easy to implement new things here. He praises the open-mindedness of Estonians and says that an increasing number of company executives are approaching them with questions about 5G and digitalisation.

Then came the end of September and some global leaders arrived in Tallinn from all corners of the world for The Digital Summit. Again, Telia and Ericsson wanted to demonstrate something special. For the first time ever they demonstrated how an excavator connected to the 5G network was operated from a distance. The movements of the driver started the machine as if he had been inside the cabin operating it himself. This demonstrated one of the most amazing characteristics of 5G – its non-existent latency.

Hence it was demonstrated in Estonia what the usage of virtual- and augmented reality in daily life might look like in the near future. This creates the opportunity to carry out work in dangerous conditions without people having to be present. A person can be in any part of the world and still get the work done.

Estonian-Swedish breakthrough ‘Often we have to tell them that they will be fine with the 4G network, because the benefit of 5G becomes evident in very data-dense places,’ he explains. The biggest benefit of 5G is seen in industry, in automation.

5G opportunities showcased in Estonia Estonia was one of the first known countries in the world where 5G solutions were demonstrated in real life. Two historical events took place in September 2017. First, Telia, Ericsson, Tallink and Intel tested the 5G network on the territory of the Port of Tallinn. Passengers of the Tallink ships in the port found out what it is like to use extremely rapid internet in a 5G network.

Researchers from the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden and the Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) demonstrated a 4000-km fibre-optic transmission link, which will increase the quality of data transfer, as well as television, radio, mobile- and internet connections. This breakthrough in fibre-optics made by Estonian and Swedish scientists is essential, for example, in long-distance drone operations in dangerous environments as well as for cloud data storage, 3D video and virtual reality applications: in situations where high-volume and time-critical data transmission is necessary. Researchers as well as leading IT and electronics minds all over the world are looking for this kind of new, trendsetting technology, making the achievement of Swedish and Estonian scientists, which was also published in the magazine Nature Communications, even more noteworthy.

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‘We have the technology, the previous experience and people who are skilled at implementing it. If someone has an idea or a prototype, it is possible to test it together with us,’ explains Jervan. However, TalTech is not just relying on the activeness of others. In collaboration with several Estonian companies they created the self-driving car “Iseauto”. In addition, TalTech is interested in smart traffic environments and smart buildings and their researchers are actively working on these areas. This has brought great competency to the university, which they want to share. One of the most important areas of work at the university will be 5G and the security questions connected to it.

Secure 5G is a topic for Estonia

Iseauto

Elisa organised a 5G concert The other large mobile operator in Estonia – Elisa – is not resting on its laurels either. There is something of a marketing war between the mobile operators: who will be the first to establish a proper 5G test network? Taavi Teder, Elisa’s media relations specialist, claims that they were the ones to have opened the first still operational 5G test network in Estonia – in 2018. Elisa has carried out many tests with 5G, which encompass user experience and research into real cases of usage. Last year, the world’s first country-to-country video call was made in their 5G test network between Estonian and Finnish ministers.

‘We collaborated with the Estonian Music and Theatre Academy in organising a 5G concert that linked Tallinn and Setomaa and allowed musicians to make music together via low latency from a 300-kilometre distance,’ says Teder. Hence, thanks to 5G technology, musicians in two distant locations were able to give a concert together and it sounded as if they were performing on the same stage.

Toomas Kärner, manager of Telia IoT field, says that one of the most important questions related to 5G is security. Often, Telia holds back from creating solutions because they want to be certain that the solution is secure. ‘We have to feel that it’s all good. Security is part of design and there must be several layers of it,’ explains Kärner. Kärner adds that bringing technology online is not equivalent to uploading a photo of your cat. It is an activity that entails extreme responsibility. This relates to one of the biggest challenges for IoT – manufacturers of appliances who have never previously produced anything for the net, are now doing so. But there is not enough knowledge about security. ‘A large proportion of them cannot calculate the risks. A producer of a smart kettle has never been in the digital world before. Hence, we have to be extremely selective with our partners,’ explains Kärner.

The question of security is also emphasised by Erki Kõiv, Chairman of the Board and Sales Manager of Ericsson Eesti. He says that as 5G will be mostly used in critical fields, it is pivotal that data is not lost or manipulated.

Kõiv recalls a speech by former Estonian president Toomas Hendrik Ilves in which he brought a great example. Let’s imagine that someone publishes their blood group on Facebook. It may be a little unpleasant but nothing bad will happen. But let’s imagine someone hacks into a national database with people’s blood groups and changes the data there. If someone needed a blood transfer, it would have fatal consequences. ‘This demonstrates how critically important the question of security is,’ comments Kõiv. A leading global player in data security – Guardtime – comes from and operates in Estonia. Guardtime offers blockchain solutions. We also have other companies for whom data security is the core focus.

Demo Campus brings know-how together 5G needs the creators of appliances and solutions. On its own, 5G has no special value. Gert Jervan from TalTech explains that this is why the university has created the Demo Campus, in order to bring together companies that want to create solutions based on 5G technology. There is no reason for a situation in which good ideas are not brought life due to a lack of courage or leading know-how.

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‘The more information we have, on the basis of which we can make decisions, the smarter those decisions will be’

‘As 5G will be mostly used in critical fields, it is pivotal that data is not lost or manipulated’

Estonian state prepared to invest The Government of Estonia and various interest groups have been preparing a document that will set the direction for Estonia in the field of 5G. How can the state help with the development of 5G? What will the state invest in? The document is titled: “Estonian 5G Roadmap until 2025”. With this document, Estonia sets the target of developing 5G connectivity in a way that will enable the free movement of data, development of innovative services and the usage of artificial intelligence.

More specifically, Estonia sets the aim of achieving 5G connectivity in its larger cities and suburbs by 2023 and in transport corridors by 2025.

The document states that Estonia considers it important to have a clearer legal environment, to take radio frequencies into use, investments into infrastructure and creating opportunities for the development of innovative services.

Demo Campus, TalTech

The state’s investment in technological development is nothing new in Estonia. Nearly 7000 kilometres of a basic network has already been built with public money. This decision, made some time ago, was a right one because, on one hand, our rural areas would not have fast internet without it and, secondly, this investment gives a good opportunity to invest in 5G infrastructure and services. New financial investments will be large-scale, as documented in the roadmap.

Special emphasis on transport corridors It is no wonder that one focus for 5G in Estonia is transport, more specifically securing 5G capacity for big roads. For example, coverage of the Via Baltica road, which connects the three Baltic states in a way that will accommodate self-driving cars in the future. Also, the grand project of the Baltic states in this century – Rail Baltica railway – may benefit from 5G-related services.

In addition to transport, Estonia wants to develop 5G services and a special focus will be given to security-related projects and Smart City solutions.

Smart city solutions on the way Gert Jervan from TalTech believes that it is precisely 5G smart city solutions that regular people will notice and feel the benefits of the most.

5G enables an extremely large amount of data to be gathered per unit of volume. 4G and earlier generations were unable to do that.

‘This will create a situation in which people use smart appliances. We will receive more data from the environment and this will increase our quality of life,’ believes Jervan. He says that the more information we have, on the basis of which we can make decisions, the smarter those decisions will be.

Take public transport or monitoring city air quality, as an example.

Erki Kõiv, member of the Board of Ericsson Eesti, introduces an interesting and very topical theme for Estonia. Lack of the labour force. How will 5G and the Internet of Things alleviate that? He brings the example of the USA, which has about three million truck drivers. When we introduce self-driving vehicles, the labour market will have a significant number of new people. ‘Each step of this kind will help solve the burning issue of how will we manage in the future,’ he says.

Tallinn 5G Declaration Estonia made excellent use of its Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2017. In the beginning of that period, the EU telecommunications ministers signed the Tallinn 5G Declaration in Estonia.

This laid the groundwork for the development of 5G networks and the creation of investment security in Europe. In addition, a pan-European detailed 5G Action Plan was agreed. It is planned to have 5G connectivity in the large cities and main transport roads of each EU member country by 2025.

The moment when the first 5G frequency licenses, ranging between 3400 and 3800 MHz, will be issued has been long-awaited. It will happen in spring 2019. A year later, the same process will be repeated for 694-790 MHz frequency licenses. This will be followed by 24.25-27.5 GHz and, if needed, 40.5-43.5 and 66-71 GHz frequency licenses.

Why is this an important process? Because it is a precondition for the transition to a 5G connection and creates the right environment for the development of networks and services.

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Two questions to the former 5G Manager of Telia

Something exciting always happens in Estonia Technologically speaking, Estonia is an exciting country. Robert Pajos from Telia says that different delegations make regular visits to Estonia; the country is well-known. He brings an example of his own trip to Colombia a decade ago, where he talked to the IT minister who told him that he had been to Europe only twice and both times to Estonia because he wanted to see the best of the best.

‘Estonia is securely on the IT map and this is the cool thing about working here: that there is constantly something exciting going on,’ says Pajos.

In terms of 5G, Pajos has one concern. He foresees that once it becomes successful and new services and products reach the masses, it will create an even bigger digital gap than we have known to date.

Those who go along will benefit more and those who stay behind will be left even more behind.

Does 5G and the IoT constitute a revolution? Our experts agree. 5G created the preconditions for revolutions to happen, but it is not one in itself. The revolution of the Internet of Things is already in process, as proven by the fact that more and more connected appliances already exist. It is clear, however, that each year the number of such appliances will increase.

Estonia wishes to be one of the countries that plays first violin.

Until recently, Mattias Männi headed Telia’s 5G activities, but now belongs in the Board of Corle, a company building electricity and communication networks. He says that Estonia will probably be able to reach massive developments for relatively small resources.

What is Estonia’s position in the field of 5G and IoT? What are our strengths and weaknesses?

Estonia’s strength in the field of 5G and IoT is the society’s above-average level of digitalisation and strong competence in the field. Combining those facts with the small size of Estonia and also combining an entrepreneurial attitude with widespread use, it is possible to reach massive developments with relatively small resources.

Unfortunately, a massive achievement for Estonia will not stick out globally where, in the field of 5G, there are two large players: Asia and the United States. Real developments will come from those directions and Estonia will be able to play along in this game either as a development or validation environment.

What are the main beneficial factors of 5G? Somewhat ironically, we could say that 5G has made people talk about whether technology could make their lives even more comfortable and efficient and, if so, how.

In a situation where the market players of the historical telecommunications field, as well as third industrial branches, are brought into thinking exercises, certainly some unforeseen thoughts will emerge and user manuals will be created that are unknown today. 5G is not an aim in itself, it is important what it facilitates.

Robert Pajos

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‘5G created the preconditions for revolutions to happen and the revolution of the IoT is already in process’

Photo by Atko Januson

Arvato Financial Solutions expands Tallinn IT operations

By Maris Hellrand

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Photo by Kalev Lilleorg

Björn Niederfranke CIO of Arvato Financial Solutions, Member of Board of AFS Estonia:

‘The reasons we chose Estonia as a location were scalability because Estonia offered enough skilled IT people for the company to grow, cultural fit, the entrepreneurial spirit in Estonia is closely matched to our company’s DNA, and thirdly qualification, technical skills and an educational system that allow growth.

These assumptions have proven to be true in the last three years, otherwise we wouldn’t have seen the growth as we have.’

What is your recommendation to other entrepreneurs considering Estonia as a location?

‘Estonia is the right fit for mid-sized international companies of 50–100 employees. If starting with a subsidiary, it makes sense to establish an independent company once it has reached about

‘Likeness to the German culture and work ethic played an important role in the final decision: pragmatism, the cultural fit and the availability of IT specialists’ Arvato Financial Solutions (AFS) Innovation & Development centre in Tallinn, a company of the worldwide Bertelsmann Group, which develops consumer payment solutions for e-commerce, has recently opened its new office in Telliskivi and plans to hire 30 more senior IT-specialists to grow its team to exceed 100 people.

The sleek, new office in Tallinn’s hippest quarter looks like a successful startup, yet offers the security of an established global company.

Agnes Makk, Director of Arvato Financial Solutions IT Centre in Estonia, recalls being one of the 60 test interviewees some 4 years ago, when Arvato first started exploring the Estonian capital as a location for its innovation and development centre: ‘What made Bertelsmann consider Estonia as a location in the first place was the IT success story of Estonia.

The Bertelsmann Foundation, which holds the majority of capital shares in the Bertelmann Group together with the Reinhard Mohn Foundation and the BVG Foundation, gives a global award for outstanding achievements annually and Estonia’s former President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has received this award for the digitalisation of Estonia. So, it was a natural choice to look to Estonia when the company started searching for a new location for its IT development centre. The aim was not to find the place with the cheapest labour cost. Likeness to the German culture and work ethic played an important role in the final decision:

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50 employees. I also recommend looking at it as a people’s business, where the company needs to provide the right office environment and make the local team part of the global operations.’

pragmatism, the cultural fit and the availability of IT specialists. An added argument was the excellent technological level of banking in Estonia, as we started as a Fintech developer primarily. The skilled IT workforce with a background in banking was available. As we didn’t plan to hire 1000 people but rather about 100, this seemed doable. There were a few Eastern European countries in the final selection. Estonia was chosen after the 60 test interviews, which proved the availability of skills and types of mindset.’

This sounds like a case that proves that the digital ‘wonderland’ reputation of Estonia is not just a PR bubble but rather an important argument for real investments?

Agnes Makk: ‘We pay at least double the Estonian average salary and we can offer great opportunities for career growth in a global group of companies, working in international teams and international customers by developing large systems. We have hired many people via the cyber security master’s programme of TalTech, which is highly sought after by international students. The university has thus already done a good job in selecting the brightest, and they fit really well into our team. We are looking to grow the Security Operations Centre strongly in the coming years. Estonia has a great reputation in this field and the need for these services is growing. Today we have 15 people, soon to be doubled.

Thanks to the university programmes, we are able to tap into international talent. This is the most multinational team with only one Estonian, we are very happy with their skills and knowledge. The Security Operations Centre was not even included in the original plan of the AFS IT centre, just as it turned out to be a field with a very able workforce, it grew naturally as a new line of business. Cyber security has become a big issue for literally every company, thus Bertelsmann wanted to develop this line stronger and, when looking for people with special skills, Estonia was the obvious choice.

It looks like our teams are working really well and, as the Bertelsmann group is so huge, there is actually no ceiling for growth.’

Focus on cyber security and e-commerce solution ‘We are considered a strategic IT centre as we are developing cyber security and the two major e-commerce solutions for the group – both areas are a special focus right now,’ says Makk. ‘AFS Estonia now offers development services to companies of the Bertelsmann Group mainly in Germany and the Nordics, among them are Arvato call centres in Germany as well as Arvato Systems, the Security Operations Centre of the group. The services now also include IT support and testing. The majority of the turnover comes from IT development and architecture, with all the clients of the company coming from abroad. We do not have a single client in Estonia. The largest team is developing AfterPay – the pay-after-delivery solution that is well-established in the Benelux and Nordic countries as well as in Germany. We are also developing the PayNext platform – one of the biggest payment platforms in Germany.

A new line of business is a content management solution for one of the largest media companies in the world – we’re building a system that recognises and deletes inappropriate content.’

An international company in Estonia In the Bertelsmann group of 120 000 employees, the Tallinn IT centre is only a drop in the ocean. Makk says they are hoping to grow: ‘Today we have hired 40% foreigners, many of them alumni of the University of Tartu or TalTech. Among our 77 employees we have 20 nationalities, so the company’s business language is English. Luckily, the IT sector is exempt from the immigration quota in Estonia and the process of residency and working permits is fast and smooth compared to Germany or Scandinavia. Estonia is very keen to welcome highly educated IT specialists.’

To further promote the expertise of IT specialists in Estonia, AFS has signed a strategic partnership contract with TalTech and the University of Tartu. It supports both local institutes with 15 000 euros to further promote scientific work and education around IT issues – and in turn, invest in the digital future of Arvato Financial Solutions.

Arvato Financial Solutions is a global financial service provider and part of Bertelsmann SE & Co. The company has over 7000 employees in 20 countries, including a strong presence in Europe, America and Asia. AFS provides optimum and secure payment flows for more than 10 000 customers from the trade, telecommunications, insurance, credit and health industries worldwide with their financial services. This makes the company Europe’s third largest integrated financial service provider.

Photo by Atko Januson

‘Estonia is very keen to welcome highly educated IT specialists’ Agnes Makk

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German business in Estonia: a cultural fit coupled with curiosity for the digital wonderland Interview with Christoph Eichhorn, ambassador of Germany

Photo by Meeli Küttim

By Maris Hellrand

‘Estonia and Germany have a very similar view – we both know to value the European Union’

Christoph Eichhorn, Germany’s outgoing ambassador in Estonia, has witnessed a strong and growing interest from Germany towards Estonia in three areas: ‘The digital “wonderland of Estonia”, how to keep Europe together, and what to do about the behaviour of the Eastern neighbour – Russia. The digital experiences of Estonia especially draw a lot of attention, not least because in each and every speech on the economy, chancellor Angela Merkel talks about the need to bring digitalisation in Germany to the next level while citing Estonia as an example. We in Germany have to learn from Estonia, underlines the ambassador – this makes practical sense and – at the same time – is a strong political message in today’s Europe. We will keep the union together so long as everyone contributes. It is probably historically quite rare that Estonians have heard from the head of a much larger country that Estonia is an example to learn from.

The chancellor means it.’

This interest translates into very practical daily work of the embassy – hosting countless delegations from Germany on the federal, state and local level, from the public and private sector, as well as from media and academia. Christoph Eichhorn says, sometimes the embassy feels like an airport hub on Monday morning at 7: ‘I’m very happy about the busy traffic. This proves there is immense interest.’

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Photo by Kalev Lilleorg

Chancellor Merkel emphasized the joint efforts of Estonia and Germany to keep Europe together while visiting the Startup Centre in Tallinn in 2016, ambassador Eichhorn recalls: ‘It’s not about the size of the member states. What matters is the European spirit, the underlying attitude and mindset that each one brings to the negotiating table in Brussels, to keep the union together and move it forward. In that sense, Estonia and Germany have a very similar view – we both know to value the European Union. We must preserve and build on it.’

While showcasing the digital ‘wonderland’ to visitors from Germany, ambassador Eichhorn explains how Estonia did achieve it politically and practically: ‘Why is Estonia 20 years ahead on e-services? How best do we address the sceptical and critical questions head on: how does Estonia safeguard data privacy so that citizens trust the digital administration? Together with our friends from e-Estonia, we usually manage to convince the visitors of the benefits within 24 hours. Quite often we hear a list of reasons why all this would be much more complicated in Germany: size, federal structure, longer decision-making processes, special interests, etc. The key is to jump forward, not list challenges but rather determine your next digital goal and take concrete steps to achieve it. As a follow-up to delegation visits to Estonia, we have more and more encouraging experiences. I get many invitations to Germany to present Estonian digital achievements and discuss how e-government in Germany could be advanced based on Estonia’s experience.

Doing this together with Estonian and German IT companies and political decision-makers such as mayors – you really see practical progress.

Things are moving. That’s encouraging.’

Both sides profit, explains Eichhorn: it is in the interest of Germany to help promote cooperation with digital Estonia and to make digital services work as soon as possible. ‘My main task here is to make the already excellent relationship between our countries even closer and to promote cooperation in every field. I try to help implementing Chancellor Merkel’s policy. In Estonia and in Germany. Very often together with my great colleague Mart Laanemäe, Estonia’s ambassador in Berlin. Team work, that’s what modern embassies of close friends do.’

When will we see the X-road in Germany?

Christoph Eichhorn (CE): ‘There are already a few examples in federal states and municipalities who have explored the Estonian X-road closely and are looking at this example when creating a German system.

Nationwide, we still have a long way to go. There are several reasons.

It’s surely not a question of technology. Germany, as one of the leading countries in IT, could of course easily develop the technical solutions. It’s a question of mindset and winning the politicians and the citizens for it. This is why all these visitors to Estonia are so important – decision makers on all levels can experience first-hand how it works. Federal or state ministers and parliamentarians, but also municipal decision makers together with local entrepreneurs. The system has to work on the ground, in cities, small towns and regions that are eager to create jobs, to bring schools online etc. The strong interest goes well beyond high political level to “where the rubber hits the road”.’

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‘Estonia is not a location for cheap labour any longer, but rather its attraction comes from the technological added value. Estonian precision work is valued’

Riina Leminsky Talking about economic ties – there is no obligation for German companies to tell the embassy if they are doing business in Estonia, but I wonder what has been the development in the last few years in terms of business?

CE: ‘This interest of German companies is very tangible. Here are some observations of how it has developed over the last years. Just recently, more than 40 German companies came to the sTARTUp Day in Tartu, from young one-man startups to Edeka, a supermarket chain with more than 360 000 employees in Germany. They took a close look at digital methods for production and retail of groceries. Audi, Bosch, Siemens, Bertelsmann, all these large companies have been here at the highest board member level, to establish business contacts with Estonian companies. Daimler has joint ventures with Starship and Bolt (former Taxify – ed.). Kühne und Nagel has grown their IT operations in Tallinn from 100 to 350 jobs. Arvato, the subsidiary of Bertelsmann, one of the largest publishing houses worldwide has just moved to new, larger premises in Telliskivi. The business ties are not a one-way street. Estonian Skeleton Technologies has opened a factory in Dresden, many Estonian startups are in Berlin (Ampler bikes). Nortal has opened an office in Germany to be closer to its customers: large municipal utilities service providers.’

What is the main reason for German companies to do business in Estonia?

CE: ‘For sure, Estonia is not a location for cheap labour any longer as it used to be in the early 1990s, but rather its attraction comes from the technological added value. Estonian precision work is valued. A key factor is the cultural fit. Estonians and Germans have a similar mentality – we exchange ideas, we shake hands and this is valid. I do hear from many companies that this is a decisive factor when looking at a shortlist of locations.’

The ties go well beyond business.

‘We have worked systematically to include universities in all the visits and talks – both TalTech as well as the University of Tartu. Visitors have always been impressed by the wide cooperation opportunities and the intersectoral mix that is possible. The embassy has initiated a conference “Industry 4.0 in Practice” together with the Estonian ICT association, now also in partnership with TalTech,’ says the ambassador.

The Germans are the third largest group of Estonian e-residents. This brings income.

Director of Business Development in Germany, Austria and Switzerland at the Estonian Investment Agency Since the days of the Hanseatic League – a confederation of the cities on the Baltic Sea – Germany and Estonia have engaged in close co-operation. In recent years, the cities of these two countries have developed increasingly close startup ties, and they continue to look for joint opportunities.

Over 50 German entrepreneurs travelled to the Hanseatic city of Tartu in late January to participate in sTARTUp Day – one of the most important business festivals in the founder and startup scene of Estonia and Northern Europe.

The festival’s slogan “From Zero to Hero” refers to the goal to inspire early stage startups on their journey.

Naturally, the founders of Hamburg’s Disruptive Lounge event were present, spreading good cheer the evening before the conference.

Speakers from Germany included representatives from Airbus, Philips Health Innovation Port, Edeka, IKS Hamburg and Ströer, and the startups Blockchain Solutions and Aiconix made pitches. Furthermore, business promotion agencies from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein and Tutech Innovation from Hamburg visited Estonia with a business delegation and held their own presentations at the conference.

Some companies are already taking concrete steps in the wake of the conference, including founding companies, establishing a networking hub between Estonia, Germany and Israel, starting joint cooperation projects, extending invitations for return visits, and so on. Many participants are already planning their next trip to Estonia, either on their own or to the Latitude59 conference, which is held in Tallinn in May. We’ll keep you updated!

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Silke Schleiff Project Manager Enterprise Europe Network TUTECH INNOVATION GMBH

Jan Schnedler Grenius Rechtsanwälte (law offices), co-founder of Disruptive Lounge

‘Estonia has created a climate for startups that is unique worldwide. It is no coincidence that Estonia has one of the highest startup founding rates per capita in Europe. The startup ecosystem works together closely with the government, universities, networking hubs and companies.

The situation in Germany is different: it sounds a bit strange to us, but the Estonians say they trust the government because everything is so digital and transparent and can be monitored.

In Germany, data protection rights are very important and are enforced. We wanted to understand this alternative approach to data protection.

When they internationalise their business, Estonian companies and startups frequently turn to the US before they come to Germany. One reason we went to Tartu was to explain what

‘Germany can still learn a lot from e-Estonia and there are many opportunities for B2B-cooperation between Estonia and Northern Germany, not only related to digitalisation. Estonia has many young, research-driven companies with excellent know-how and innovative ideas.

People are interested to get in touch and very open to discuss about possible cooperation. startups need to consider when working with Tutech Innovation cooperates with Tartu large German companies and how they can Teaduspark, Tehnopol Tallinn and the Estonian enter the German market.

Chamber of Commerce and Industry as partners in Enterprise Europe Network with the Estonia is the perfect place to test and try out aim to help ambitious SMEs to innovate and startup ideas because Estonia’s business climate grow internationally. Thus, with our visit in Janis practical and ambitious. We want to bring uary we initiated many first contacts between Estonia, Israel and Germany closer together startups and SMEs from our regions. We will on three levels: startups, corporations and unidefinitely continue our close collaboration and versities. To this end, we founded the initiative help our clients to follow-up contacts.’

‘Jumpboard.org’ and officially launched it for the first time on stage at sTARTUp Day. We will be back for the Latitude59 conference and to strengthen our contacts. We have also invited our Estonian friends to attend the digitalisation congress ‘solutions.hamburg’. Estonia and Germany can learn a lot from each other because both countries are rather different.’

Christian von den Brincken

Your point of contact in Germany Three women from Estonia are important liaisons for expanding and maintaining the economic cooperation between Estonia and Germany on behalf of the Estonian economic promotion organisation Enterprise Estonia at the following German locations: Riina Leminsky (FDI, corporate networks) and Evely Baum-Helmis (tourism) in Hamburg, as well as Tiina Kivikas (export) in Nuremberg.

Ströer (outdoor advertiser) ‘The most exceptional thing about Estonia is the different mindset demonstrated by a society that grew up with the benefits of digitalisation and that, accordingly, deals with it in an open-minded fashion. This mindset is a great help to us when we want to move forward with our ideas or quickly identify what is promising and what is not. That is why we often get inspiration from Estonia and encourage our partners

to do the same. In addition to Tallinn, Tartu is an especially well-suited place to do that. The startup conference in January provided a very efficient introduction to the Estonian ecosystem. We are already working on finding solutions together with a range of Estonian partners of all sizes, especially in the fields of smart cities, geodata systems and artificial intelligence.’

You can find additional information at www.investinestonia.com www.visitestonia.com Additional points of contact include the Estonian Embassy in Berlin and Mari Aru, a member of the economic council.

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Company run by an e-resident is shaping the future of satellite communication

By Ronald Liive

Telecommunication devices have been around for quite some time now.

Having 4G data even in the remotest parts of the Estonian wilderness isn’t anything astonishing. But did you know that in this time of high-speed internet connections, many of the satellites flying over our heads still use age-old radio frequencies to communicate with each other?

Golbriak Space is a small, Tallinn-based aerospace company that is developing a device that fits into a shoebox; satellites that will bring satellite to satellite communication to the 21st century using optical communication solutions. If everything goes according to plan, the first fruits will be picked this summer.

Prime example of e-Residency possibilities The company, which was founded back in November 2017, is run by an Italian, Simone Briatore (28). Before landing in Tallinn, he studied in China and briefly in Moscow. Tallinn was not on his radar to continue his studies but rather to found an aerospace company. In an interview with Life in Estonia, Briatore says that none of the founding members have any prior con-

nection with Estonia. The company was co-founded by Nicola Garzaniti and their advisor is Alessandro Golkar, previously employed by Airbus.

‘The reason we picked Estonia is for bureaucracy and the friendly space for startups. We considered starting a startup so we wanted a friendly startup ecosystem. We were amazed by Estonia. Business administration is simple here because everybody speaks English,’ says Briatore.

According to the founder, the team, at one point, also considered the Netherlands and United Kingdom but finally decided on Estonia mainly because of the almost non-existent bureaucracy. Briatore is one of over 52 000 e-residents that Estonia has, giving him almost full access to the same e-services any native Estonian can use. Although he is a citizen of the European Union, he still benefits extra from e-Residency. The main advantages are the ability to found and run a company online, sign legally binding documents electronically and file taxes online in just a few minutes.

Although Briatore was an e-resident while starting the company he still retained the mentality from back home and decided to start the company in the traditional way – by visiting a notary. Now, having used e-Residency he is certain that if there is a need to start another company he will do it online.

‘The reason we picked Estonia is for bureaucracy and the friendly space for startups’

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Optical communication is the future for satellite to satellite communication Golbriak Space’s mission is to develop a license-free optical communication solution for satellites to communicate with each other at high speeds. At first they are focusing on nano- and microsatellites in low earth orbit. Aerospace company SpaceWorks predicts there will be around 294 nano- or microsatellites launched into space this year.

Right now, satellites use traditional radio frequency (RF) based communication solutions. The disadvantages for RF are spectrum licenses, low speed and interferences. For example, getting a license can take 2 to 4 years. Even if you are granted a license there is still a big possibility that the data packets you are transmitting will get scrambled due to the large number of devices using RF.

this summer. Being based in Tehnopol, a science and business campus located in Tallinn, Briatore sees that there is enough know-how in Estonia to work on the project. The device is built at Tehnopol in Tallinn and tested in Tartu.

Golbriak Space is also preparing for the possibility that the launch does not go well. If something goes wrong with the launch of the rocket they will try to find money to have a second launch as soon as possible. If there is a problem with the device, they will look at what didn’t work and also have a second launch. Briatore states that space is a high-risk business.

‘Assuming that the launch goes well, the projection is to build 20 to 100 devices per year’

With a license-free solution there is no waiting time to receive a license so companies building satellites can get their technology up in space much faster. Optical communication uses lasers that can transmit data 100Mbps to 1Gbps, which is considerably faster than RF. The solution that Golbriak Space is developing has been successfully tested in the stratosphere.

According to Briatore, there are no other privately run companies in the world developing the same solution they are working on. He points out that it is possible that a military solution has already been worked out and deployed, but as military projects are mostly top secret he doesn’t know if it exists.

The only example of optical communication being used in space that he knows of is on the Sentinel satellites. However, they don’t use it for satellite to satellite communication but rather to send data up to geostationary orbit and then use RF to receive the data on Earth. The estimated cost for the terminal used on Sentinel is around 24 million euros and the size is comparable to a washing machine. After industrialisation, Briatore aims for their solution to cost around 100-150 000 euros and the device measures only 10x10x15cm in size.

ESA awarded a free launch into space for the device Around the same time when the company was founded, the team took part in an accelerator by the European Space Agency (ESA) and they were the 2017 Copernicus Masters Overall Winner. Although they were granted some prize money for first place, the most valuable award was a free launch into space for the device. The device will be flown up in summer 2019 with the same rocket that will launch the TTÜ100 satellite from the European Space Port in French Guiana. Golbriak Space was also one of the very first startups accepted to the ESA Business Incubation Centre (BIC) Estonia.

With the work done so far, Golbriak Space has stepped into negotiations with three commercial projects with a total projected value of 35 million euros. The only name they can publicly site is Airbus, which is looking for a solution to launch cloud computing on the International Space Station.

The other two possible clients are staying anonymous at the moment.

Assuming that the launch goes well, the projection is to build 20 to 100 devices per year. For that to happen they need to raise money from investors. Preliminary talks are going on at the moment but agreements have yet to be signed. The team hopes to use money received from investors to increase the size of the company to about 10 people by

Simone Briatore and Nicola Garzaniti

Nano- and microsatellites are a growing business Starting from 2008 aerospace company SpaceWorks has been keeping track of nano- and microsatellites launched. Nanosatellites weigh from 1 to 10 kg and microsatellites can weigh up to 100 kg. Last year there were about 253 satellites launched into space that fit the prior description. For this year, they predict a 17% increase. But the full market potential is just shy of 400 nano- or microsatellites.

Estonia’s ESTCube-2 and TTÜ100 satellites are also going to be launched into space this year. None of them are using the technology developed by Golbriak Space.

Over the next five years the nano- and microsatellite business will see rapid growth. Such satellites could be used for military, commercial or civil purposes. Over 10% of all nano- and microsatellites launched in 2018 were intended for communications purposes. The cheapest ride for a satellite that size is around 33 000 euros per kg. The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning to launch their own launch rocket, named Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV), which will bring the launch price down to around 12 000 euros per kg.

According to the growth estimates, Golbriak Space sees their revenue reaching 70 million euros by 2026. Briatore recommends Estonia for technology-oriented startups and companies. According to him, the assets for startups lie in the community.

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By Sven Paulus

‘A smart device with the sensor can alarm individuals and recommend that they take a route through unpolluted city zones, whereas the 5G network and IoT will allow the information to be sent quickly to the main database, thus giving a general overview of the area’

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Photo by Randel Kreitsberg

Graphene-nose will be a canary in your pocket

Photos by Katre Tatrik

‘In the near future, smart sensors in your phone, a few square millimetres in size, will detect poisonous gases in ambient air, especially Remember those caged canaries that were used in coal mines as an vehicle exhaust’ early warning system for poisonous gas? What if a sudden traffic jam pollutes air so much that for a biker or pedestrian it is safer to take another route? Soon enough, your smart phone could be that alarm bird that lets you know when there are too many toxic substances in your surroundings.

While 5G communications networks along with the Internet of Things (IoT) are becoming part of everyday life, Estonian researchers at the University of Tartu are busy developing a graphene-based sensor nose. This breakthrough allows smartphone users to get immediate notifications about their environment. According to the World Health Organization, outdoor air pollution is one the biggest health risks and a major cause of death and disease globally. This is also an acute problem in Europe: 72% of Europeans live in urban areas and are daily exposed to toxic substances in air.

But there is also good news. In the near future, smart sensors in your phone, a few square millimetres in size, will detect poisonous gases in ambient air, especially vehicle exhaust. Sensors could also be used, for example, in a smart home, while sensors connected to the Internet of Things could relay the situation of a whole city or region. These will give a much more accurate picture of pollution than current individual monitoring stations. ‘In addition, the final sensor platform will feature pressure, magnetic field, temperature and humidity sensors,’ says Raivo Jaaniso, head of the laboratory and a senior research fellow at the University of Tartu.

A local research group has been working on the sensor nose for five years and presented their latest prototype in February at the Barcelona World Mobile Congress in the Graphene Pavilion. The fresh prototype does not look anything like a mobile phone yet; it is quite big and would not fit in a pocket. But it already has a processor, Bluetooth, GPS and touchscreen.

‘We met many people there who really needed it and were a little disappointed that we didn’t have the product ready yet,’ says Jaaniso. But big breakthroughs always need time and the project is halfway complete, with plenty of work and experimenting ahead for the next four years.

Largest project in Europe The gas-smelling sensor, the working principles of which resemble the human nose, has been developed in the framework of the tenyear technology partnership “Graphene Flagship”, established by the European Commission in 2013. This means that the know-how of 150 partners is combined, including universities and the electronics industry. With a total budget of one billion euros, it is also Europe’s biggest research initiative ever.

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Graphene Flagship With a budget of €1 billion, the “Graphene Flagship” represents a new form of joint, coordinated research on an unprecedented scale, forming Europe’s biggest research initiative ever.

The “Graphene Flagship” is charged with the task of bringing together academic and industrial researchers to take graphene out of the realm of academic laboratories and into European society within 10 years, thus generating economic growth, new jobs and new opportunities.

The core consortium consists of over 150 academic and industrial research groups in 23 countries. In addition, the project has a growing number of associated members that will be incorporated into the scientific and technological work packages from the Horizon 2020 phase (1 April 2016 – 31 March 2018).

Source: Graphene Flagship website

Raivo Jaaniso

‘There are more than ten different work packages and topics in the project and we participate in the sensor work package,’ explains Jaaniso.

Various project partners have their special expertise. While one group is developing pressure sensors, the others are trying to find other materials for creating gas sensors. ‘Cooperation is very important and the strength of the project is that we also work with other packages that develop, for example, graphene synthesis,’ says the researcher. On a broader level, the work package contributes to the health, medicine, and sensor divisions of the Flagship.

The project on this scale surely needs enormous coordination, various skills and bright minds at work. ‘In our group, very different competencies are required. At the moment, we do not have a thing ready yet, it is still at the research stage, but it has a relatively high level of technical readiness,’ says Jaaniso. To achieve the needed technical level, the University of Tartu work group draws from all disciplines: material science, chemistry and physics, electronics and IT.

Testing on the streets The local group’s expertise lies in gas sensors. Their latest prototype already allows researchers to start experimenting with the sensor on the street level and not just in the lab. ‘We can make it weatherproof and put it on the arm, bag or bike and then you get the results from the street. Test results from a real environment are very important because there are probably new things and issues that need to be addressed and solved,’ Jaaniso says.

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The graphene nose is a relatively simple matrix of sensors, having four small elements. All of them are made out of a graphene layer one atom thick, but each element is modified differently. While one element is focused on sensing one type of gas pollutant, the other element measures another gas. By combining the signals, researchers get data about the current air quality.

At the moment, there are still three criteria the research team has to meet in order for the invention to be used in mainstream technology.

‘We would like to have our sensors be really sensitive, small in size and with low power consumption. It seems that on the basis of graphene it is possible to make sensors that would also endure,’ Jaaniso says. Luckily, the experiments at the University of Tartu Institute of Physics lab have proven that elements created there three years ago still work.

But how exactly will the sensor work? Jaaniso explains that a smart device with the sensor can alarm individuals and recommend that they take a route through unpolluted city zones, whereas the 5G network and IoT will allow the information to be sent quickly to the main database, thus giving a general overview of the area. All of this should give people more choices and a healthier environment.

The article has been produced in cooperation with Estonian Research Council’s initiative “Research in Estonia“

Singer and songwriter Lenna Kuurmaa is the face of the Berrichi natural cosmetics brand's advertising campaign / Photo by Terje Atonen

Estonian natural cosmetics are full of science

By Ann-Marii Nergi

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Photo by Tallinn University

‘It is claimed that astaxanthin is like natural doping for the skin: 500 times more powerful than vitamin E and 800 times more powerful than the coenzyme Q10’

Rando Tuvikene

Algae, various oils, turf, healing mud – natural cosmetics these days are about so much more than a fruity body scrub or a basic spa product. Mixed together with help from top-level scientific research, natural components are triumphing over the oil-based chemical products that dominated the market until now.

A couple of decades ago when Rando Tuvikene, senior researcher at Tallinn University, set out to study algae and dedicated himself to the understanding of its chemical components, he could never have imagined that one day his discoveries would end up in a tub of cream in a store. By now, Tuvikene and his colleagues at the Institute of Natural and Health Sciences have collaborated with several popular Estonian natural cosmetics producers. The producers really do want to know that their product is good and effective, he says. Their first collaboration in the cosmetics sector led to the birth of the brand Berrichi, which created a cream on the basis of two years of research into seaweed and its socalled super oils.

The components and active ingredients of Berrichi’s day-, night- and eye creams have been thoroughly researched and tested. It was Rando Tuvikene who suggested to the producers that one of the active ingredients, which would help slow down the aging process, could be astaxanthin – a very strong antioxidant derived from certain micro algae and is widely cultivated and used in Asia, but not Europe. It is claimed that astaxanthin is like natural doping for the skin: 500 times more powerful than vitamin E and 800 times more powerful than the coenzyme Q10, which has been called fuel for the cells.

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‘They took up my idea, ordered the components and everything proceeded surprisingly smoothly – a product was made, the texture of which is derived from a thickener from a Baltic Sea red algae, and the colour and significant effect comes from the same active ingredient – astaxanthin,’ explains the scientist. The algae itself produces this ingredient in order to protect itself from the damaging impact of UV-rays. In cosmetics, the ingredient helps to protect from the damaging impact of free radicals. Hence, the cream uses the fact that a certain type of algae is able to protect itself from damaging environmental impact.

‘The first contact with the producers of Berrichi, before the brand was born, was in 2014. Back in those days at Tallinn University we did not have the idea to start developing cosmetic products, even though we had long-standing experience in researching algae dating back to 1999.

The creators of the Berrichi brand wanted to use components of algae in their products, primarily the firming agents derived from algae as thickeners in the creams. At that time, sea resources were beginning to be used more in Europe generally and hence, there was growing value placed on related challenges.’

Tuvikene had just returned from his post-doctorate in Japan and he was well-acquainted with the Asian world of algae and therefore immediately able to recommend astaxanthin.

Seaweed has an honourable place in Japanese culture. It can be said that seaweed is part of the local culture and even children are taught to value sea resources including algae. Seaweed is used in all possible ways in Japan – it is used to make glue, drinks, all sorts of foods, additives, cosmetics and, of course, sushi.

Photo by Terje Atonen

‘The collaboration in the cosmetics sector led to the birth of the brand Berrichi, which created a cream on the basis of two years of research into seaweed and its so-called super oils’ ‘Seaweed and everything related to it was already something I was really interested in before going to Japan. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have done my post-doctorate there. But just like Japan, Estonia is also a seaweed country,’ claims Tuvikene.

There is an interesting aspect of using red algae in Japanese cosmetics and in Asian cosmetics more generally. Namely, in this region, the pigment derived from algae is used in cosmetics, the same ingredients that give red algae their colour. In addition to colouring properties, those red pigments are also antioxidants. In Asia, those pigments are used as an ingredient of lipstick. In recent years, the pigment properties of algae have also been researched at Tallinn University. Estonia is a special case because we have large, even industrial amounts, of the red seaweed Furcellaria lumbricalis. In the Väinameri Sea (a strait and sub-bay of the Baltic Sea) between the Estonian archipelago and mainland, there are such massive amounts of red seaweed that the only factory in the world that produces the firming agent derived from this algae (furcellaran) is situated in Estonia.

All this long-lasting scientific research and product development would be worth nothing if it didn’t reach consumers. The main question is how to break through the endless row of cream tubs on the Estonian market, not to mention the huge Asian market, or even only in Japan?

‘Indeed, a super product is not enough to break into the Asian market.

The reason is that there are many great products there already and consumers will not easily find this specific great thing,’ admits the scientist, but he adds that Estonian producers might have a trick up their sleeve.

‘The Japanese view Estonia as a small exotic country – they know

something of Estonia thanks to our sumo-wrestler Baruto and his great conquests in Japan. Also, the Japanese consider Estonia something untouched – a green country that is not densely populated, with an image of pure nature. In addition, there is the link between the two countries through seaweed.’

At the same time that natural cosmetics are triumphing, shops are still stocked with “ordinary” products – are those really damaging to health?

According to the scientist, the main problem is that what is promised on the label does not correspond to reality – often the products are “beautified” with catchy marketing phrases but the product itself does not deliver the stated effects (products with ordinary properties are said to do wonders).

Truth be told, consumers often make their choices on the basis of whose advertising pitch reaches them or whose packaging looks more professional or has a prettier design. But advertising and design money does not necessarily go hand in hand with product development.

Products with components that are really damaging to health do not reach stores – existing regulations do not allow them to enter the market. Some ingredients may cause irritation for people with sensitive skin. ‘We always have to emphasise to our customers that not all natural things are immediately great and not all synthetic ingredients are bad.

People are often afraid of synthetic products, as if they were something harmful.’ For a chemist, it is not different whether a component is synthetic or natural – if it is the same ingredient, we can only talk about the degree of cleanliness and if that is also the same, then the components in a product are identical, even though their origins may be different.

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‘What we should consider is the technological process of making a component and we should prefer the one that has created less stress on the environment. Sometimes the synthetic process may actually be significantly more environment-friendly than deriving the component with the same degree of purity from natural raw materials.’

In addition to Berrichi, several other cosmetics producers like Nõgel, Turbliss, Sõsar, Loond SPA have reached out to Tallinn University. With Loond Spa, they studied the properties of the healing mud of Värska, for example. The process of creating a final product is very individual and the time depends on the specific product and the question of whether all ingredients are accessible or whether some components need to be removed from the raw ingredients in lab conditions or whether there needs to be some other form of processing. Therefore, in the easiest cases, the birth of a product may take six months, whereas the more complex products with thorough testing may take up to two years.

Collaboration is not limited to one university Other universities have also been involved in bringing scientific cosmetic products onto the market. The best-known example is the cosmetics brand Lumi (Estonian for ‘snow’ – ed.), which is a spin-off of the University of Tartu, a research-based company that grew out of the university. The first final formulas of Lumi products were developed six years ago in collaboration with the Tallinn University of Technology (TalTech) and there have been other collaborations with the Estonian University of Life Sciences and Tallinn University.

Currently, the company is working on innovative lactobacillus at the University of Tartu, with the team of Reet Mändar, but it is early days

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and hence not the time to introduce any outcomes. ‘Lumi certainly wishes to be a trendsetter – our mission is to improve the world – we have the proof through feedback from our customers that a natural and holistic approach to the skin is possible and much more effective than many known solutions to date,’ says Märt Miljan, co-founder of Perfect Cosmetics OÜ, which operates under the Lumi brand. He adds that the skincare principles accepted a couple of decades ago have been completely turned around – we have done everything wrong! The result is that many people have skin problems, which begs the question: how can people’s skin experience bad times with so much available in the shops? The answer is that we have taken the wrong attitude towards our skin and, in order to regain balance, we need to use natural products that suit our skin.

‘The meaning of natural cosmetics has really changed – for us, functionality and product effectiveness have always had priority, especially when we think of sensitive skin, which more and more people experience due to lifestyle,’ adds Miljan. ‘Whereas six years ago natural cosmetics referred to orange-smelling sugar scrub or some relaxing spa product, today it is great to see that a natural cleanser or cream meant, for example, for acne, is much more effective than a synthetic product with the same function!’ Miljan claims that thanks to the general developments in the field, they are also able to offer better products and the customers are more aware and able to expect more. ‘Nature has perfected its products for millions of years. It is our role to find those developments and to mix the perfect concoction.’

The article has been produced in cooperation with Estonian Research Council’s initiative “Research in Estonia“

Photo by Maris Tomba

One year after its launch, the 55-million-euro plywood mill in Pärnu is working in full-gear.

Metsä Wood brings the modern plywood industry to Estonia

By Ann-Marii Nergi

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Photo by Urmas Luik

Turnover and profits Metsä Wood 2018 turnover 442 million profit 17 million Metsä Group 2018 turnover 5.7 billion profit 849 million

Kaarel Tali

The Metsä Wood mill is the size of three football fields and is located in a Pärnu suburb. The production process currently takes place in three shifts, five days a week. Soon, the working week is set to encompass six days. ‘If commissions grow, it is not unlikely that the mill will work 24-7,’ says the factory’s Manager, Kaarel Tali.

In a year, more than 100 people have been employed in the factory in addition to about twenty office staff. The company is still looking to recruit about 50 people. ‘Although we are still lacking workers, that does not mean cutting production volumes – there is also a lot of room for development in terms of efficiency,’ says Tali.

The construction of the birch plywood mill in Pärnu began in April 2017 and was completed last spring, with the Estonian firm Nordecon AS as building contractor. Production, in which birch veneer is used as a raw material, officially began in August 2018, and the mill is expected to reach its full capacity during 2019. The veneers are produced in Äänekoski in central Finland. All the wood is also acquired from Finland, from the forests of Metsä Group’s owner-members. Metsä Forest, part of Metsä Group, is the only wood supplier for Metsä Wood’s mills in Finland. Metsä Forest, as well as Metsä Wood’s Suolahti and Punkaharju plywood mills, have certified Chain of Custody, which includes a wood origin tracking system. The veneer mill at Äänekoski and the birch plywood mill in Pärnu constitute a mill complex, in which the two parts must work seamlessly together.

Every day, truckloads of veneers are transported from the Metsä Wood Äänekoski mill in Finland and delivered in one side of the building. On the other side, tens of thousands of cubic metres of high-quality birch plywood are loaded onto trucks and transported mostly to central Europe. But commissions have included the USA, Turkey and South Korea,

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‘Although we are still lacking workers, that does not mean cutting production volumes – there is also a lot of room for development in terms of efficiency’

too. At full production capacity, 10 truckloads of veneer are delivered per day and 7 truckloads of plywood leave the mill for Europe, which creates considerable losses in plywood production. Fortunately, in the vicinity of the Metsä Wood mill is the Fortum CHP plant, where wood leftovers are sent for heat production. The proximity of the Fortum plant was one of the significant reasons behind the decision to build the Pärnu mill in its current location. Metsä Wood is also able to buy electricity without transfer fees.

The plywood produced in the Pärnu Metsä Wood mill has very specific customers and fields of use – the plywood boards are mostly used in construction, especially in concrete formwork. As laminated plywood is a very resistant material, those boards can be reused up to 40 times. In addition, the mill produces laminated plywood for the interior elements of trucks and other means of transportation; for example, the anti-slip boards produced in the mill are used as floor covers for trucks and trailers.

In the future, the Pärnu mill will start producing for a third sector, one of high responsibility – namely the wall constructions of LNG tanker boats.

In the shipping sector, which deals with liquid gas, the wood quality is not so much about its resistance to moisture, but rather its resilience in extreme conditions, because the temperature of liquid gas in LNG containers is -163 Celsius. ‘This is indeed a more complex product that requires extremely high quality. But the volumes are huge. For one tanker 3000-4000 cubic meters of birch plywood are used, which is two months’ production volume of our Pärnu factory,’ explains Kaarel Tali.

The total volume of investment in the plywood factory is 55 million euros. Enterprise Estonia, with its 2 million euros of funding, played a role in attracting the investment to Estonia.

Photo by Maris Tomba

‘The proximity of the Fortum CHP plant, where wood leftovers are sent for heat production, was one of the significant reasons behind the decision to build the Pärnu mill in its current location’

Three years from plans to production

Help from local municipality is crucial

Arto Salo, Vice President of Development Projects of Metsä Wood

Sulev Alajõe, Director of Regional Business Development in West Estonia, Estonian Investment Agency

‘We were told it would be impossible to get building permission for a factory in Estonia in just six months – but it was possible outside Tallinn!’ Arto Salo, Vice President of Development Projects at Metsä Wood Pärnu factory recalls how the entire process began three years ago. ‘We checked a lot of places – other countries and places besides Pärnu. We decided firstly for Estonia because it is near Finland and Estonia is, according to our understanding, a country where systems are really working. As our main market is Central Europe, Pärnu is logistically the perfect place in that sense also.’

‘The information that a big wood processing group is interested in expanding to the Baltics arrived in the Estonian Investment Agency’s pipeline in autumn 2015. Estonia was chosen quite quickly over Latvia due to a more reliable ecosystem and similar business culture.

The following competition between Tartu and Pärnu brought out the outstanding importance of energy supply for investors. In Pärnu, the possible production plot in the neighbourhood of Fortum CPH contained the potential for grid-fee connections of electricity, heat and steam, collecting residues of plywood mill. Crucial support for landing the investment in Pärnu was provided by HML, an Estonia-based consultancy company with an Irish background and strong international technical, environmental and legal competence.

Salo praises hard-working Estonians and local legislation, which is at times more favourable to employers than in Finland. Also, the salary level in Estonia is still competitive in comparison to Scandinavian countries. If the pressure on wages continues, he sees no serious problem. ‘We just have to increase efficiency,’ he claims.

Pärnu mill is part of Metsä Wood’s 100-million-euro investment programme in Estonia and Finland, which improves production excellence and competitiveness in the market. Approximately half of the investment went to Finland – a new birch veneer peeling and drying line was built in Äänekoski at the Metsä Group’s Pulp and Paperboard Industries’ mill site and a new production line was built in Lohja mill.

‘We decided firstly for Estonia because it is near Finland and Estonia is, according to our understanding, a country where systems are really working’

For investment projects, it is always critical that the local municipality understands the importance and scale of the investment. The Metsä Wood plant will bring the city of Pärnu an additional annual tax revenue of 333 216 euros, and under the same preconditions, the social tax revenue will reach 950 400 euros per year. On top of that, the Niidu industrial area gets a strategic investor, which will attract more due to its highly improved infrastructure. There are vacancies in proximity to Fortum power plant waiting for the next direct-line energy consumers for a win-win deal. Pärnu authorities resolved its complex water and sewage supply solution and elongated the factory road, providing additional access from the E67, which is the Tallinn-Warsaw-Prague road. Pärnu’s advantage is its location next to the main road to continental Europe, soon supported by the new European railway and renovated regional airport. While the main focus has been on the IT sector lately, the decision to establish Metsä Wood plywood mill in Pärnu shows the importance of keeping strong traditional manufacturers and strengthening local production with new technologies and know-how.’

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HML studies helped to establish Metsä Wood Leo O’Neill, manager of HML Consulting

‘HML was first appointed by Metsä Wood in 2015. Our role was to carry out a feasibility study in relation to their potential to establish a Plywood Mill in Estonia. Once HML had completed the initial task and submitted our findings, Metsä Wood’s Board made the decision to proceed with investigating a short list of sites in Estonia. HML was again engaged in work with Metsä Wood to prepare cost estimates for each of the short-listed locations. As part of this process, HML had to carry out a study to determine the most suitable site in regard to infrastructure and services.

‘Crucial support for landing the investment in Pärnu was provided by HML, an Estoniabased consultancy company with an Irish background and strong international technical, environmental and legal competence’

HML worked closely with Enterprise Estonia (EE) during this process and due to this close cooperation, we were able to complete this process relatively quickly. In May 2016, HML submitted their report outlining the estimated construction costs for each site, along with our expert opinion on the time frame necessary to amend the detail planning and apply for new construction permits. As part of the report, we indicated a start date of the 4th of April 2017 for construction in order to meet the strict

Photo by Maris Tomba

deadline set by Metsä Wood to start production by August 2018.

After Metsä Wood made the decision to proceed, HML was again engaged in supporting Metsä Wood in the negotiations and acquisition of the site. This process was completed very swiftly with the support of EE, which supported several meetings with City Officials and HML in order to look at ways to run processes in parallel. The swiftness of the meetings and the whole process were paramount for Metsä Wood in their decision to establish a plywood mill in Estonia. It only took 9 months from the start of the land purchase, to the changes and amendments of the detail planning, the appointment of main designers, the entire design process, the construction permit application, the granting of the permit and subsequent appointment of the main contractor, through to the start of construction. Considering the complexity and size of the project, this process was relatively straightforward. Construction was started on the 4th of April 2017 as indicated one year earlier by HML. This was one of many major milestones achieved during the previous 9 months.

These milestones could not have been met without the close cooperation with EE and all the related authorities. We found the willingness from all entities to embrace new processes in order to achieve these strict milestones.

Setting up these stringent processes was also a vital part of the completion of the construction stage of the project. Due to this, the project met every milestone set out and the completion of the Plywood Mill was done ahead of the planned schedule. This allowed Metsä Wood to start their specialist equipment installation process earlier than planned.’

‘HML worked closely with EE during this process and due to this close cooperation, we were able to complete this process relatively quickly’ 46

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COMODULE connects electric vehicles to the internet

By Ronald Liive

If you have visited any major cities around the world this past year, you have probably seen somebody riding an electric scooter. Or if you’ve been to India there is a chance you’ve seen electric tuk-tuks on the streets. There is a high probability that the vehicle you saw is connected to the internet with the help of an Estonian company COMODULE.

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‘The customer can change the maximum speed of the scooter over the air. But regulating the speed is also possible with GPS coordinates.

If a scooter enters the Tallinn Old Town, the speed would be reduced to a maximum of 15 km/h’

The story of COMODULE started about seven years ago and it feels like it’s taken out of a drama. The team had an idea for a totally different thing at first. They were able to raise some money from an investment fund, literally burned all of it and then started from scratch with a totally different idea and no money.

The story of COMODULE taking part in Prototron is quite interesting.

For example, the prize money was transferred to CEO Kristjan Maruste’s personal bank account without having signed any prior documentation.

Back in 2012, Prototron was just starting out and now they are more mature and don’t transfer money without contracts in place.

The company is now so successful that the CEO Kristjan Maruste turns down any request from investors. Now COMODULE is focusing on expanding the business portfolio and moving the parent company back to Estonia.

After submission they were asked for a one-pager and a business plan.

Having no prior experience with these documents they Googled them and wrote something up in one night. To the finale they took a funny looking prototype with them. According to Maruste, the jury told them, ‘Your business plan is childish and ludicrous but you guys rock’.

‘What is a one-pager, what is a business plan?

Let’s Google them’

With the 10 534 euros they got from Prototron they founded a company called Formula Battery Management System and built the car. The battery management system they built was meant to override the safety features in the batteries. The race ended for them with a melted and overheated battery.

Many of the successful startups and technology companies you hear about daily started because their founders thought the world needed the product they were working on. COMODULE is different. Seven years ago, five electric formula car enthusiasts were playing with the idea of their own formula car, but they didn’t have enough money to build it.

Hearing of the investment fund Prototron, aimed at financing prototypes, they straight away applied for it.

‘We didn’t have a sincere desire to launch a company but eventually we did it and it’s been a great benefit,’ says Maruste.

Estonia could be the international parent company capital To their surprise they were picked for the next rounds and eventually were announced as the winners. After receiving the money, it took the team only two hours to spend it for components to build the car. Six months after the first application to Prototron they were out of money, the prototype had literally burned down and they were thinking of what to do after their university studies.

Six months after recuperating and deciding to continue with the idea, the team decided to go all in and take part in an accelerator program, which would let them grow the idea rapidly. They were faced with the option to go to China, Germany or stay in Estonia. They chose Berlin because they saw that the Germans were thinking about mobility.

But every fairy tale has a good ending. The team got back together and looked at the business plan they had submitted to Prototron. They saw a real need for a modular battery management system. Over the years, the idea has matured into more of an IoT solution for small electric vehicles.

After visiting fairs full of small electric vehicles they knew what their field would be. They wanted to connect electric bicycles to the internet. The market was doubling each year, so the market potential was really high.

Three out of the five founders went to Berlin with the initial thought of staying there for a longer period of time.

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Maruste himself was in Berlin for a year. One member lasted for eight months and another for a year and a half. Right now the company has only one employee in Germany and about 40 in Estonia. To this day, the parent company of COMODULE is registered in Germany but they are going to move it over to Estonia this year.

‘The reason we chose Berlin is that we wanted to be closer to our clients and understand the market. During that time, we saw Germany as the most important market in the world,’ says Maruste.

Having first-hand experience doing business with big international companies, Maruste sees that there is no need to have a parent company in the same country that the partners are from. Most of the big names have subsidiaries in every country, so doing business with them is no problem. From the beginning, COMODULE signed every possible contract through their Estonian subsidiary. The reason they are moving the parent company back home has to do with bureaucracy.

A prime example that corroborates Maruste’s position is Bolt (formerly known as Taxify), which raised money from Daimler and Didi Chuxing through the Estonian parent company. ‘That means they went to the Estonian notary. If you are an attractive enough company then no one will miss out on the investment opportunity,’ says Maruste. He explicitly says that they don’t want to waste time on German bureaucracy.

At the moment, COMODULE is offering two solutions for short-term electric scooter rental companies. Either they offer the full service to you or they provide you with the device and API. It takes only about 30 minutes to set the API up and get the system running. Whichever option is chosen, COMODULE gives their customer the option to modify all of the capabilities. For example, the customer can change the maximum speed of the scooter over the air. But regulating the speed is also possible with GPS coordinates. If a scooter enters the Tallinn Old Town, the speed would be reduced to a maximum of 15 km/h.

Maruste is an avid believer that it is possible to produce hardware in Europe. COMODULE itself is built in Estonia with parts gathered from all around Europe. The CEO does not want to disclose all of the news coming out of COMODULE this year but he gave hints of launching their own consumer-focused product.

COMODULE has clients all around the world, the devices have been shipped to 50 countries. There are over 60 000 COMODULE devices active at the moment and Maruste aims to hit 100 000 devices by this summer. He would be happy then because his hometown of Tartu has a population of around 100 000 people.

Maruste hopes that more and more international companies see the benefits of operating a business from Estonia and move their headquarters here. He hopes that the government sees this as the next opportunity

No need for any new money from investors

to grow Estonia even bigger. Having first-hand experience of how to run a company in Germany, he says that it’s 100% true that, from the business administration and bureaucratic side, Estonia is the right place to be.

COMODULE has had five successful founding rounds and according to the CEO they are not seeking any new investors at the moment. Right now they are even rejecting proposals from possible investors. Last year, most of the growth of the company has come from electric scooter companies providing short-term rentals. Bird and Lime, the best-known companies in the field, are not clients of COMODULE.

In regard to that, Maruste is a bit critical towards TransferWise, a successful Estonian startup based in London. After the decision for Brexit was made, TransferWise announced that they will move their operations over to Brussels. ‘Why are they moving to Brussels? They don’t have anything there. They might as well just move their business to Estonia,’ he says.

‘COMODULE itself is built in Estonia with parts gathered from all around Europe’

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By Anneliis Aunapuu

When you happen to meet someone from your own generation, for example over a cup of coffee, conversation often turns to childhood books. Having the same images in your background is something that unites. Before you know it, you are building a kind of conspiratorial bond.

Without a doubt, our world of imagination would be much poorer without the stories we read in childhood.

Many characters have become symbols, expressing certain mindsets. What would the world be like without Mickey Mouse or Winnie the Pooh? It would be an inferior, clumsier world, if we weren’t able to refer to someone as Mõmmibeebi or Äpu – albeit these two are like a secret code that is only understood by about a million people – Estonians.

continues on p.59

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Regina Lukk-Toompere "A Dream", illustration for a tale by Toon Tellegen

Illustration of Estonian children’s books: varied, humorous and artsy

Portfolio: Illustration of Estonian children’s books

Piret Raud “Trööömmmpffff or the Voice of Eli”

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Jüri Mildeberg “Fairy Tale”

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Catherine Zarip “Blue Forest”

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Kertu Sillaste From the book “I am an Artist”

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Anne Pikkov Illustration in the magazine �Family and Home�

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Regina Lukk-Toompere “A Cat and Bast” from the collection of Seto fairy tales

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Ulla Saar “Town”

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Urmas Viik “Agnes and the Transformers”

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Lotte by Heiki Ernits

Iconic characters Such vivid symbols cannot exist without the faces and shapes given to them by illustrators. This fact highlights the role of the artist with a very thick and noticeable marker. Next to the author of the text, the book illustrator is like the second parent – the writer is dad and illustrator is mom, or the other way around.

Snow White by Siima Škop

Pokus by Edgar Valter

Ever since colour lithography allowed illustrations to be bound in a book, Estonian books have included illustrations, starting with the well-known rooster of the ABC Book. Many say that the way they picture Thumbelina or Snow White is how Siima Škop drew them. Local stars – Sipsik, Naksitrallid and Kunksmoor – are loved in the form given to them by Edgar Valter. His unique vision and style have influenced generations. The peculiar hummock creatures called Pokus created by the artist have started to live their own life. The theme park Pokumaa (Pokuland) created a decade ago helps to develop children’s sense of fantasy and a close relationship with nature. Another character has acquired an almost Disney-like fame – Lotte as envisaged by Heiki Ernits.

Children first met the dog-girl Lotte in an animated film by Heiki Ernits and Janno Põldma in 2000, then in books, theatre and new films. The entertainment world has embraced the dog-girl and a theme park dedicated to her has also been established. Throughout many years, children have considered Lotte, her adventures and authors to be their favourites.

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Fine art versus illustration Strangely enough, there is a great difference between the work of an artist and that of an illustrator on many levels, ranging from the psychological to the technical. An artist’s work must have an attractive, eye-catching, if not a monumental, quality in the exhibition hall. A book is meant to be looked at closely and the details must be correct and thorough. The limited format seems to constrain the painter (and even a graphic designer) to the extent that a picture created for a book by a so-called real artist will not have the proper impact. It is exactly the other way around with an illustrator who, whilst working on tiny details, may lose the overview of large surfaces. The other level is details – contemporary painters don’t pay much attention to those in order to keep the large scale, immediately graspable image dominant. Illustrators are mostly threatened by drowning in detail because these are the things that help them express the background and richness of the work.

Hillar Mets

Of course, there are some exceptions that also serve as mileposts in the history of Estonian illustration. For example, a pinnacle work of graphic art by Günther Reindorff for the illustrated “Ancient Estonian Folk Tales” (1951) by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald. Another milestone is the masterpiece in colour “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by Alexander Pushkin, first printed in 1952. It was designed by Evald Okas, who became well-known as a portrait- and nude artist. In this book the composition of pictures (and the entire book) is totally in balance with its charming details. Both works have been reprinted recently.

A contemporary exception is the artist Jüri Mildeberg, who has proved himself in both panel painting and book illustration. He also admits that there is a great difference between those two fields of art.

What are advantages in one may turn into disadvantages in the other.

He adds that it is even more difficult to create a good illustration than a good painting.

Technique and style There are many illustration techniques that might end up in a book.

From the classic ink drawing and lithography to digital image design, with practically no limits to what is possible to depict.

This creates the preconditions for the predominance of an ultramodern and futuristic style, however the opposite has become trendy! Many creators work on a childish-clumsy style as if the drawing skill is not important for the illustrator. In this sense, illustration today resembles caricature, by taking the best from it – humour, clear symbols and “indispensable” tricks of depicting something. And then there’s also the very personal way of drawing lines.

Piret Raud

This vitality of this direction is proven by two indicators – the preferences of children and the sieve of the international market.

An example of the first factor: every second year one illustrator is presented with the “Nukits” award, which is the “best of the best” selected by asking thousands of Estonian children. For many years, the best illustrator has been the caricature artist Heiki Ernits (the father of the beloved Lotte), last time the award went to Hillar Mets, whose humorous and warm drawings have been in school books for years, as well as the children’s magazine “Täheke” and many good children’s books.

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The other indicator is the international arena and many Estonian illustrators have been acknowledged here: Piret Raud is a “2 in 1” multi-talent, who illustrates her texts herself. Her drawings are humorous and overly laconic, including a sense of geometric shapes that have been complemented by the grotesque. Having grown up in the family of great children’s authors, she has a good nose for reaching children’s hearts.

Kertu Sillaste, “Everyone Makes Art Their Own Way”

Ulla Saar, illustration for “The Phantom Tollbooth” by Norton Juster

Jüri Mildeberg is an artist with a very wide range, whose picture language is largely based on the grotesque (again).

Weird characters go about their business in a word of mild tones. At the same time, the veiled gaze of his characters seems to be directed into a mystical past, which adds an extra level to the pictures.

Jüri Mildeberg, “Twins”

Ulla Saar’s pictures include amazingly spot-on composition. Her training as a designer and her profession in the same field suggests that choosing the grotesque is done very knowingly.

Kertu Sillaste has received her international education in textiles, but recently she has found acclaim as an illustrator.

In her pacey, brightly coloured and fun images she is often using collage.

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Catherine Zarip “Rain” Priit Pärn, “The Gothamites”

by Eno Raud

Urmas Viik “Island Angels” (cover illustration)

Urmas Viik has been a graphics professor at the Estonian Academy of Arts and has been exhibited on larger scale. Recently he has dedicated himself more to book design and illustration. With drawings that are rather serious and laconic, he creates ever more exciting backgrounds to the drawings digitally. Sometimes integrating steam-punk motifs and little jokes. Sometimes he expresses the idea of the story through cartoon strips.

Priit Pärn is a biologist turned caricaturist and animated film guru. His screamingly grotesque drawings and films leave no one untouched. He has influenced an entire generation of animators, but delicately left the mainstream untouched.

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Catherine Zarip, with her overly cute and friendly animal crowd, is everyone’s favourite. As a specialised ceramic artist, she creates shapes on paper that could probably be turned into clay forms – it is all three-dimensional.

The Estonian Children’s Literature Centre unites In a wonderful building on Pikk street 73 in the Old Town of Tallinn you will find the Estonian Children’s Literature Centre. A small permanent exhibition provides an overview of the history of Estonian children’s literature. Temporary exhibitions show the works of contemporary illustrators as well as local and visiting artists. The exhibition activity is coordinated by curator and art expert Viive Noor, an illustrator with a degree in fashion design who is also an amazing water-colour painter and has created an iconic character - a girl with curly hair (which seems like a self-portrait). As a loved and productive artist, she is also able to keep the community of illustrators on their toes by initiating and curating exhibitions and maintaining relations with the international community of illustrators.

Regina Lukk-Toompere, “A Mouse Who Cuts Trees” from the collection of Estonian fairy tales

Anne Pikkov, illustration for “Katariina And The Peas” by Kadri Hinrikus

Regina Lukk-Toompere is one of the most amazing water-colour illustrators. Starting from her diploma work at the Estonian Academy of Arts, she surprises with her attention to detail and clean colour palette. She has achieved total control over the the demanding technique. At first, it may be unnoticeable, but the secret behind the success of the dog-girl Lotte could be the amazingly detailed backgrounds of the first films, painted by Regina. As an illustrator in demand, she is not satisfied with what’s already been done. Book after book reveals some unexpected tricks that make other illustrators go: wow! Sometimes she lets her water colours get some rest.

And she is still convincing!

Since 2003, the international illustration triennial has been organised in Tallinn on the initiative of Viive Noor.

The triennial brings together professionals in their field from the Baltic Sea countries and further afield. An extremely significant spring-time meeting place of the children’s literature and illustration scene is the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. Traditionally, the Estonian Union of Publishers represents the country at this fair, also including authors and illustrators. One of the key events at the fair is an international exhibition of illustrators.

This is an extremely valuable arena for exchanging information and making contacts. Thanks to these contacts, Estonian illustration has been able to get out into the wider world, away from small local publishing volumes to bring happiness to children in much larger language environments.

Strangely enough, illustration is not taught at the Estonian Academy of Arts. There are courses at the open university (taught by Anne Pikkov and Kertu Sillaste). Drawing itself, which has always been the basis for art-related fields, is no longer considered so important. It is unclear when it began, but book illustration has also become estranged from classical drawing, which is itself seen as an anomaly. It is a time of big changes – perhaps the printed book itself will become a rarity? Only time will tell and what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Book illustrations can always come alive on a digital display.

Anne Pikkov is a graphic designer and hence has a solid drawing hand. Her pictures are mostly in the style of animation, where clear colour surfaces are separated and linked into the image by a clear black contour. Sometimes she also tries her hand at graphics and adds some collage. Sometimes she doesn’t try to hide the fact that she can draw well.

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“Truth and Justice”, a stunning panorama on being Estonian Photos by Allfilm

By Emilie Toomela

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Andres of Robber’s Rise

Estonian cinema is in a very good place after the nation’s 100th anniversary in 2018. As part of the cultural festivities, several outstanding films were made to celebrate the centennial on the silver screen: “The Little Comrade” (“Seltsimees laps”) on beloved children’s books author Leelo Tungal, “Eva’s Christmas Mission” (“Eia jõulud Tondikakul”) for youngsters and many others. One of the most anticipated films made for Estonia’s 100th anniversary was the period drama “Truth and Justice” (“Tõde ja õigus”), based on the literary classic by the same name.

There are five volumes and hundreds of pages of the epic book written by novelist Anton Hansen Tammsaare almost a century ago. “Truth and Justice” is the novel that all Estonian kids read in school, often hating it then rediscovering it during their adult life, realising that the book actually made quite a lot of sense.

Directed by Tanel Toom, the film adaption takes us to the end of the 19th century when Estonia was still a province of the Russian Empire.

The story in “Truth and Justice” is something that will always remind Estonians of their history and where they came from, how land and hard labour brought us to where we are today. If you know this story, you get to know the essence of Estonians and their culture.

Work that consumes its maker At the beginning of the 20th century, at the time of novelist Tammsaare and his writings, an Estonian man had two ways of surviving the harsh conditions of the Estonian rural landscape. Work on the field as long as your spirit and back carried on, or try slyly to get on good terms with rich landlords who ruled the villages.

The year is 1872 and there appear two farmers, Andres (played by Priit Loog) and Pearu (Priit Võigemast), who are the exact opposites of each other. Andres is a young man who brings his beautiful wife Krõõt to start their lives as farmers at Robber’s Rise (Vargamäe). The only land they can afford is covered in swamp. They toil from the first hours of sunlight until the dusk falls, to raise crops and animals for food and make the hostile earth their own. The producer of the film, Ivo Felt, says that every young man working hard towards his goals will win a little and lose a little at the end. ‘We all work hard, never really being sure if it all goes to the right place,’ he says. If the novel itself idealises hard labour, the movie is different in that sense. It poses the question – is the hardship really worth it? And also gives an answer: too much work and neglecting loved ones in the process will consume its maker and leave him or her feeling empty inside.

Pearu on the other hand is a man carrying a different shade of truth, he does not see working as a virtue. Instead of battling with nature, he has his own deals with the wealthy landlord, that take him through the harsh Nordic winters at the Robber’s Rise where his farm is. He boasts at the tavern: ‘I got rid of the two previous land-owners at Robber’s Rise, and I will drive away the newcomers.’

Bitter and spiteful, farmer Pearu bickers over everything with his neighbour. Trying to play the other, they often end up in the village’s court, where they plea for truth and justice to their endless arguments. With high moral standards, Andres on the other hand soon discovers that truth does not pay well in court, and he begins to question what justice is. He gets fined and blamed for things he did not do.

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Photos by Allfilm

Pearu

Most Estonians know the story by heart, and it is seen as the core text of Estonian literature. We live in a post-truth era, the book and film are set in the realm of truth. It is a time, when truth still matters, but it is hard to stick with it nevertheless. Estonian actor Priit Võigemast, one of the two leading actors, explained that the story is not an easy piece of entertainment: ‘Based on such a novel, you can’t really expect a comedy to be made.’

make his nemesis’ pigs run wild in his rye. But instead of the husband arrives Krõõt, so fragile and so sweet. With a clear voice, she calls back the animals, who happily follow their mistress. The trickster farmer over the broken fence has nothing left but to mumble by himself and wonder with unexpected fondness, “the neighbour lady’s voice is even sweeter than my crops, how could it be”. After seeing the movie, you will remember this particular scene, as did the character in the story look back to that one afternoon in the golden rye field – his one moment of gentleness in an otherwise grim farm life.

Stunning views of Estonian nature The first volume of “Truth and Justice” captures man’s struggle with the earth. It surely was not an easy film to make, because every person in this windy country has their own idea of how the story should unfold. The director himself has admitted that there will always be people who dislike the film. Surprisingly, both Estonian film critics and audiences have received the picture with incredible warmth.

In a rural Estonian family, the lady of the house worked as hard as everyone else. Krõõt (played by Maiken Schmidt), the beautiful wife of Andres, has a tender voice like a bird’s song and graciousness in every chore she does, however difficult it might be. She truly is a sight for sore eyes, so even the neighbour Pearu cannot help but notice. There is a gentle scene in the film, in which the mischievous Pearu has played yet another one of his tricks and taken down a part of the fence to

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According to the director Tanel Toom, it took him almost nine years to bring the film from the first ideas to production and, as the story evolves through four seasons and landscapes, it took the crew over one and a half years to film. Tanel Toom is a great storyteller: his short film “The Confession” was nominated for an Oscar at the 83rd Academy Awards. With a decade of directing expertise in the short films industry, “Truth and Justice” is his debut feature, and what a debut it is indeed – the director has done outstanding work in telling a captivating story. If you are worried that an almost three-hour crash course on Estonian rural culture is too much to bear, don’t be – inspiring, meaningful and convincing performances from all starring actors and scenic panoramas of nature will take your breath away.

The storytelling of the film could not fulfil its greatness if the quality of the film’s technical side were lacking. Intimate close-ups of family life

Tanel Toom is an Estonian Oscar nominated director and screenwriter. He studied filmmaking at Tallinn University, graduating with a BA in 2005. After that, he worked as a director for commercials and as a first assistant director.

In 2008 he completed his fourth short film, “The Second Coming”, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The apocalyptical war drama has since been screened at numerous film festivals and won several awards, including Best European Short at the Arcipelago International Film Festival.

The same year, he decided to continue his studies at the National Film and Television School in England. He graduated from the NFTS with an MA in 2010 and shortly after that his diploma film “The Confession” won the Student Academy Award for Honorary Foreign Film and got him an Academy Award nomination for Live Action Short Film.

Anton Hansen Tammsaare (born Anton Hansen 1878 – 1940), was an Estonian writer whose pentalogy “Truth and Justice” (“Tõde ja õigus”; 1926–1933)is considered one of the major works of Estonian literature.

Andres and Sauna-Madis

“Truth and Justice” was not translated into English until 2014, when Haute Culture Books published the first volume of the saga under the name “Andres and Pearu”. There are two complete translations into German and one each into French, Latvian, and Czech. Volume 1 has also been translated into Finnish, Polish, and Hungarian.

and stunning views of Estonian nature from up above give you a new perspective on things. Estonians’ love for nature is really something, hiking in the woods is our meditation, therapy and sanity all in one and Estonian folklore has many magical tales to tell about life and spirits in the swamp. Nature has been to Estonians the place where spirits live; extraordinary things can happen. But it has also been a battlefield for cowboy capitalists in the 1990s in the post-soviet era, when wood meant only one thing: money. Contemporary Estonians still seek solace in nature and, at the same time, timber is a significant part of our export. There is surely a long way to go. One can hope that truth and justice can go hand in hand, just like the characters in the film find at the end that pursuing justice without truth is an empty endeavour.

Photos by Allfilm

Source: Wikipedia

Krõõt

Escaping many clichés, “Truth and justice” tells a compelling story about what it means to survive in the harsh nature of the Nordics and still stay human. The film tackles love for land and family, the cost of hard labour, but also the conflicts between the rich and the poor, the honest and dishonest. It finds that wild root of being Estonian and offers stunning landscapes, which make everything fall into its rightful place.

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Peeter Perens: ‘Our descendants have to be able to look back to our era and understand us through the songs and music created today.’

By Maris Hellrand

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Photo by Atko Januson

150 years of Estonian Song Celebrations

Photo by Jaanus Ree

Estonia is celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Song Celebration this July. The first ever event in 1869 brought 878 male singers and brass players to Tartu. Publisher Johann Voldemar Jannsen initiated the Song Celebration as part of the Estonian national awakening movement.

Jannsen’s daughter Lydia Koidula was the author of the lyrics to “Mu isamaa on minu arm” (My Fatherland is My Love), which gained the status of Estonia’s unofficial anthem, with a melody by Gustav Ernesaks from 1944. “My Fatherland is My Love” is also the title of this year’s anniversary Song Celebration on the 6th and 7th of July 2019 in Tallinn. The grand event will bring more than 30 000 singers and dancers on stage at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds and has been two years in the making.

Each edition of the Song Celebration is based on the unique vision of the artistic director and his team, selected in an open competition. The artistic concept of the 27th song celebration was created by Peeter Perens (47) and Siim Selis (46), both conductors of the TalTech Academic Male Choir.

Perens comes from a family of choir musicians and remembers his first Song Celebration as a four-year-old in the procession, on the shoulders of his father, also a choir conductor. With the conductor’s baton of the Song Celebration, he has now reached the top of the pyramid of choir music.

Peeter Perens (PP): ‘The foundation of this concept is to look at the combination of two cultures that define the vitality of Estonians – the old Finno-Ugric runic song culture on one hand, which was the focus of Lennart Meri (the late president and writer 1929-2006) and Veljo Tormis (composer 1930-2017), and on the other hand, the European culture that we are part of today. For the concept for this celebration, we want to create a musical fusion of these two cultures. The Estonian classical choir music of Veljo Tormis, Cyrillus Kreek or Ester Mägi always includes ancient Estonian folk songs and European composition culture.

It is a very natural thing in Estonian music.

The Song Celebration takes place over two days and offers two different concerts. The second day is usually quite traditional, with only minor changes throughout decades. The first day, however, offers more flexibility and artistic freedom. My idea for this was to arrange a happy openair concert of Estonian classical music, just as they occur all over Europe during the summer with people listening to opera or Tchaikovsky with their picnic baskets. We looked for the brightest pieces of Estonian music that would suit this concept at the Song Celebration. In doing so, we realised that thirst for education has been the key to Estonia’s success, hence the subtitle of the first concert “To the Teacher”. The programme is a journey through different schools of composers and is dedicated to teachers within them. We are talking about Estonian music education and focusing on the teacher. Any teacher actually, not just music.’

Is it easy to find “happy” music within Estonian classical choir music?

PP: ‘The programme includes instrumental pieces and even a solo song next to choir pieces. Classical music tends to be introvert overall, it’s not just a characteristic of Estonian music. Classical composers usually deal with deep individual analysis. So yes, it’s more difficult to find extrovert classics, but fortunately it is possible in Estonian music, it’s not all that sad!’

What are your favourite pieces of the first day?

PP: ‘A very special piece on the programme is a Latvian song “Riga dimd” – the reason being that Estonian music education actually began in the 19th century at the Livonian teachers’ seminar in Valmiera, later Valga, led by the Latvian Janis Cimze. Among the students were later well-known conductors and composers such as Aleksander Kunileid LI F E I N ESTON IA N o 51

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Photos by Atko Januson

and Aleksander Läte, who became founders of Estonian classical music. It makes me very happy to have a song in the Latvian language in the programme. We live next to each other and should interact much more than we do.

I am also very happy to have a piece by Mart Saar “Noore veljo, veeritäge” in the programme – a very energetic song for mixed choir and a brave choice for the Song Celebration. It’s polyphonic, rhythmically complicated, but having heard it in several large rehearsals it seems to be a risk worth taking. It sounds great and the singers are very motivated.

Towards the end of the first concert we will perform a newly commissioned piece by Tauno Aints, which will hopefully turn into a runic joint choir with the audience. Aints has used a runo song to create a new piece with lyrics by Urve Tinnuri with the title “Üksi pole keegi” (Nobody is alone). The singers on stage will take the lead and the whole audience will hopefully join in in response. I’m looking forward to this as a highlight of the first day.’

The selection of songs in the programme has to be extremely well founded. It has happened before that not just singers but the wider audience debates the suitability of a song for the event. People really seem to take it personally.

PP: ‘I’m very glad that you can see the profound reasoning behind the selection of the repertoire. It might not always be obvious but having gone through the process I can assure you that we have really looked extremely carefully at each piece that is included. Also, the newly commissioned songs – the composers have selected the lyrics very thoroughly, often in cooperation with conductors. I am incredibly grateful to

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our artistic council, which has put such effort into selecting the music.

The Song Celebration is always teamwork, and my special thanks goes to Ave Sopp and Siim Selis.

The singers and audience are always expecting something new from the Song Celebration. In fact, it is of course exactly the same celebration as 150 years ago, but we have to find a new angle each time that keeps it interesting and up to date for us today. I think the singers are ready for something extraordinary.’

The second day of the Song Celebration has always been based on the repertoire of different choir and orchestra types – each type has an opportunity to showcase a number of pieces, the grand finale includes all performers for the traditional standards and usually a specially commissioned piece. According to Perens, this year’s new commissions include many pieces based on traditional folk songs: ‘The treasury of our folk songs is a truly endless source. What is new and changing are the topics. We have to find a balance between new music and Estonian classics that people expect to hear. Here the grand finale of joint choirs is always extremely important. I am so pleased to have a new cantata by Pärt Uusberg “Igaviku tuules” (In the Wind of Eternity) in the finale – a special commission for this celebration that he will conduct himself. It’s based on the lyrics of the old Estonian poets Juhan Liiv and Kristjan Jaak Peterson and is an Estonian folk song. It’s hard to imagine anything more “Estonian” than a combination of these three sources of lyrics. Uusberg has captured the character and full potential of joint choirs in this piece. He truly uses the joint choir as an instrument. We have heard this piece in the rehearsals performed by a few hundred singers and it already sounds truly incredible. I think this song has the potential to become one of the lasting Song Celebration standards that will be performed many times in the future.’

The programme of the 27th Song and 20th Dance Celebration “My Fatherland is My Love”

Isn’t it always the ambition when commissioning new music for the Song Celebration? The main idea is to enrich the choir repertoire with new contemporary music as if weaving an endless carpet.

But the secret hope is also to create a piece or a few that will shine beyond one celebration and remain in the repertoire for years to come.

PP: ‘This is true. We certainly hope that all the new music will be like pearls. Right now, it seems that the singers have really responded very well to the newly commissioned music. Even some of the more complicated pieces, like “Kannel” by Hain Hõlpus for mixed choirs, that did cause some raised eyebrows at first due to difficult changes of key and other elements, have by now become familiar. Good things take time.

Great music will not give itself in immediately, it takes practice until one realises the greatness.’

Relay of the Flame 1 June (Tartu) – 3 July (Tallinn).

The journey passes all Estonian counties in 33 days.

Choral concert at St. Mary’s Church on Thursday, 20 June in Tartu

For singers it seems interesting to challenge themselves and perform new complicated music. The question remains, how will the audience react.

Dance Celebration on Thursday, 4 July at 7 p.m. at Kalev Central Stadium in Tallinn

PP: ‘I would not underestimate the audience. They are, for the most part, also friends and family, neighbours and colleagues of the singers. I have the feeling that the discussion about the repertoire is not just confined to choirs and musicians but rather it spreads to the whole of society. The rehearsal time is almost two years, so by the time of the actual celebration people are familiar with and excited about the new pieces, eager to hear how they actually sound. As long as we can offer this kind of excitement, all is well. If that ceases and people just come to a concert of songs that have been sung for 150 years, it’s over. Our descendants have to be able to look back to our era and understand us through the songs and music created today.’

PP: ‘I realised this responsibility during the previous celebration in 2017 when I was the head conductor of young men’s choirs. I have a daughter and a son who sing in choirs. All of a sudden, I started to hear the songs that we had chosen for the celebration from the shower. In that moment it hit me – all over Estonia there are young guys singing these songs in the shower. Fortunately, we had chosen wisely and there was nothing to be ashamed of. If a young man sings in shower “my dear Estonia, where I was born and raised…”, you realise, it’s fine.

It is, of course, very tricky to select pieces for the repertoire that would be very topical today, as the process takes about two years and you can’t predict what is going to be in the centre of public attention by the time it is performed. This means we focus on universal and lasting values. This is the foundation of the Song Celebration. To step aside from the daily hustle and contemplate really important issues. We get together and tens of thousands of people talk about important things by singing, not one person preaching from a lectern. Song has been a medium for the most important messages ever since. Sung words are more powerful than spoken words. Then and there you realise that the Song Celebration is everything: our core, our security, our education – everything.’

Song Celebration “To the Teacher” on Saturday, 6 July at 7 p.m. at the Song Festival Grounds

on Friday, 5 July at 6 p.m. at Kalev Central Stadium

Song Celebration on Sunday, 7 July at 2 p.m. at the Song Festival Grounds

Folk music concert on Friday, 5 July at 2 p.m. at Kalev Central Stadium

Tickets are available at Piletilevi for 7-60€

Photo by Ilmars Znotins

The Song Celebration is also a very powerful tool of communication as it touches and involves the majority of Estonians. What is today’s public debate about, how does it reflect the values and changes in the society? In that way, the artistic director and team have a huge responsibility as they are actually able to lead the public debate.

on Friday, 5 July at 11 a.m. at Kalev Central Stadium

Procession on Saturday, 6 July from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. from central Tallinn to the Song Festival Grounds

Perens says that his greatest wish is to create a celebration just as worthy as its predecessors of the past 150 years: ‘Then we have accomplished our task. This is not a humble wish. The musical level and peoples’ expectations have been very high, so if we manage to add another pearl into this row, that is just as valuable and yet original, we have already reached the high bar.’

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By Margus Kiiver, Head of Media, Rally Estonia

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Photos by Karli Saul

Urmo Aava: ‘Innovative thinking brings the world’s best rally drivers to Estonia.’

Oliver Ciesla in Tallinn

The World Rally Championship has done a good job of introducing Estonia to the wider world. Throughout the years, Estonian rally drivers have been in the picture. The recent successes of Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja as well as their leadership positions at the World Championship series have really raised awareness.

Urmo Aava, Director of Shell Helix Rally Estonia, talks to Life in Estonia about how to take advantage of Estonia’s small size, the trust and expectations of the state, private supporters and international organisations placed on the organisers, and about the likelihood of actually having the WRC round take place in Estonia.

Shell Helix Rally Estonia organisers have also set themselves the goal of holding the best rally in the world in Estonia and to bring the WRC round here. In the beginning of March, a big step was taken in that direction with the signing of the cooperation agreement with Oliver Ciesla, Managing Director of the WRC promotional series.

According to the contract, the official WRC promotional rally will take place in Estonia in 2019. This format will be used for the first time ever, and it will bring the leading rally drivers of the world to South-Estonia, among them Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja of Toyota Gazoo Racing, who won the Shell Helix Rally Estonia last year as witnessed by almost 40 000 rally fans from Estonia and other countries.

The decision of the Estonian government to support Shell Helix Rally Estonia with 980 000 euros is pivotal and demonstrates that organising such a grand scale event is very important to the state. On the other hand, it creates positive stress for the organisers who have to put on an event that stands out from other World Championship rounds with the kind of innovativeness Estonia is known for. It is no secret that in order to bring the event to Estonia, we had to compete with countries who have a long tradition of organising rallies, as well as with new countries in large markets such as Japan and Chile.

Urmo Aava

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Photo by Karli Saul

We have worked for three years in the name of this specific format. For three years we presented to the promoter the idea that there should be an intermediate round between a local rally and the WRC round.

A promotional rally means that, in terms of the competition and the organisation, we can use the same elements that we already know from WRC rallies. It means that all four WRC series teams have been invited to participate in Shell Helix Rally Estonia; the event can use the official WRC branding and, through the marketing activity of the WRC promoter, awareness of Estonia as an attractive tourism destination will grow. The permission to organise the official WRC promotional rally shows respect for the entire Rally Estonia team who has dedicated eight years to this. It is a sign that we have been moving in the right direction and have done things well. It has mattered to the Estonian state, the WRC promoter, International Automobile Federation FIA, our supporters throughout the years and to all rally fans in the region.

Many large-scale events have faced the same issue in Estonia – it is a small market. What can we offer to the WRC series and what is our advantage?

First, we have taken a clear approach for some years saying that our market is not just Estonia but the Baltic states. This means that the market is already 6 million people, the same size range as Finland. One of our definite goals is to raise the number of foreign tourists, which has been on the increase throughout the years. As weird as it may seem, the small size of Estonia is also our advantage. We are able to react faster in every situation and make decisions quickly. I don’t mean only the activities during the rally but also in preparations.

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Organising the official WRC promotional rally in Estonia provides the organisers, the promoter and FIA with the opportunity to test several innovations developed by Rally Estonia in a competition environment.

From the perspective of the audience, the rally needs to be easier to consume. We believe that all these innovations will have a positive impact on rallying as a sport in the rest of the world too. It is extremely important for all counterparts that we very strongly emphasise the safety and attractiveness of rallying.

For car manufacturers and their teams, it is very important that we can offer an additional outpost in the WRC series that covers a new market area: the Baltic states.

Photos by Karli Saul

Please explain to the readers first what the WRC promotional rally is and how it differs from the official WRC round?

Photo by Edgars Leonovs

What are the innovations you mentioned?

Why should people come visit Shell Helix Rally Estonia from the 12th to 14th of July in South Estonia?

We have a clear vision of what the future of rallying should be like from the perspective of organisers, drivers and spectators. We want to combine two very important keywords: safe and attractive. We have built special areas for the spectators that we introduced last year for the first time. These have been selected very carefully, there are large parking lots, an attractive stage section, with jumps and curves and safe places for the spectators that offer a great view. Those areas have everything from catering to large LED screens, where you can watch the rest of the rally live, and entertainment by the best artists in Estonia.

In addition to Estonians, this is the nearest place for many of our neighbouring countries where they can see the top rally drivers of the world and their teams compete. Ott Tänak, Thierry Neuville, Elfyn Evans and Sebastien Ogier are some names who may start at Rally Estonia.

Our goal is to bring not only WRC teams but also strong drivers of the so-called WRC support classes – WRC2 and Junior WRC – to Estonia.

Last year we did a lot of work on the roads where the stages are done.

Hence, we can offer WRC drivers similar conditions to those in Finland and also the spectators in special audience areas will benefit from it.

Estonia is known as one of the most innovative countries in the IT sector.

It is our wish that in the rallying world too, new IT solutions will come from Estonia. It may be something as simple as an app for spectators where you can find answers to all your questions, ranging from booking accommodation and buying the rally pass to navigating the race and viewing results. The other side is the organisational part of the rally where we can create new IT platforms that help organisers sell and check tickets and direct service personnel to the areas where they are needed most and to secure safety during the rally. The third stakeholder is the management of the race, which ordinary people have no idea about. We also see new opportunities here that would help make the rally safer for the driver as well as the spectator.

But the stages are just one part of the big rally weekend. It is not without reason that we have introduced ourselves as the biggest motorsport event in the Baltic states. Rally Estonia will take place simultaneously in several locations. Tartu, the second largest town in Estonia, will be the entertainment centre of our event. A Formula 1-style, two-level podium at Tartu Town Hall Square and the opening and closing ceremony of the rally have become trademarks of Rally Estonia. Also, city tests will take place in Tartu and Elva. In Tartu, next to the stage, there will be the autoEXPO, which showcases different technology. In terms of entertainment, we are planning official rally concerts and at the Tehvandi stadium in Otepää you can watch mechanics at work at the rally’s maintenance area. My recommendation to everyone is to come here for an entire week, not just the weekend, in order to benefit from Estonian hospitality and have a great time.

A two-level podium at Tartu Town Hall Square

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Along the border between East and West

By Piret Malvi

Ashwin learned to make smoked ham in the ancient sauna at Kirsi farm in Setomaa in addition to sauna rituals that date back hundreds, if not thousands, of years

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The former industrial landscapes of the European Union’s eastern border are marketing themselves as the Estonian adventure capital. There are plenty of reasons: canoeing, off-roading, skiing and snowboarding on a landscape unaltered by human activity is a special experience. Paradoxically, the former industry has formed the foundation for sustainable tourism in a large part of the area

Ashwin Bhardwaj is a travel writer and filmmaker at The Telegraph. In his new travel podcast Edgelands, he undertook a 5000-mile overland journey along Russia’s western border, including a stop in Estonia, to explore the line between East and West. During this trip, he experienced Easter and canoeing the #EstonianWay.

To add excitement to life and gain a new outlook, seasoned travellers go on a new journey based on a purpose or goal, rather than simply visit a country. This allows them to see the world in a more diverse way than political borders. They make round-the-world trips, visit small ports and hike on hiking trails.

The more people with travel ideas such as these, the more diverse and tolerant the world will be. If you travel thematically rather than merely choosing a destination, it often becomes evident how many similarities exist in seemingly different places, how fascinating it is to experience different cultures and desires, and how we are all responsible for the preservation of cultural heritage and nature.

Travel writer Ashwin Bhardwaj chose “the border” as the theme of his trip. Borders offer a variety of options: to experience phenomena that only occur in a border area and to test one’s own borders.

One of Ashwin’s border experiences included a visit with the Setos. Having lived on the border between Estonia and Russia for hundreds of years, the Setos have shaped and preserved a totally unique culture containing elements from both cultural spaces.

Throughout time, the synergy between mental and geographical borders has created cultural explosions that later became famous further afield. The unique Seto way of singing – leelo – is part of UNESCO cultural heritage and you can still hear this kind of singing at Seto parties today.

Ashwin’s stay with the Setos coincided with Easter, which is celebrated in a much more festive and diverse way than elsewhere in Estonia. The travel writer participated in several rituals in which a chicken’s egg symbolised rebirth. Traditionally, eggs were painted with onion peels and rolled in a similar way to the game petanque. In addition, the Setos

never forget their ancestors and during each holiday a visit to the graveyard is a must. The rituals were accompanied by a real sense of community.

Once in Setomaa, a visit to the smoke sauna is compulsory. This piece of UNESCO cultural heritage continues to serve many functions. A smoke sauna ritual cleanses the body and the mind, the smoke is used to cook slow-food – the famous local smoked meat. After you sweat it out in a 120-degree sauna, you are supposed to jump into the icy pond, and with good reason. It is not just some Nordic weirdness, but very practical for your health. By making your blood vessels contract quickly and then relax, you train them and remain healthy and young into old age. Ashwin considered the cold shock to be nothing strange or blood-curdling, but a tradition he could happily get used to.

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Happy, of course! To be in the right place at the right time, experiencing the fifth season in Estonia, is quite an experience

The journalist with Aivar Ruukel, the frontman of Soomaa National Park and the grand old man of Estonian nature tourism

The video clip Ashwin filmed in Soomaa (marsh land – ed.) brings to mind the grandest nature film scenes on the National Geographic or BBC channels. Soomaa, which has been named the capital of wild Estonian nature, is home to five large marshes. Due to its large untouched areas, this region is now part of the European network of PAN Parks (Protecting European Wilderness).

Thanks to Soomaa, Estonia has a fifth season.

This is not a simple phenomenon. The fifth season can occur during summer or autumn with its heavy rains, but mostly it happens after the snow melts during spring. Then the meadows and woods are flooded with river water.

The biggest floods in Soomaa occur when the warm weather comes unannounced. The size of the flood does not depend on the amount of snow but rather on how rapidly it melts.

Travellers should take care, just as with ice roads: it can all be over as quickly as it began.

You should take the trip the instant nature offers the opportunity.

In Estonia, the Soomaa flood is not an unexceptional natural catastrophe that creates havoc in daily life. It is a long-awaited event that symbolises the cycle of nature and preserves ancient culture. For example, in addition to modern sporty canoes, people in Soomaa also use dugout canoes, which are one of the oldest types of boats in the world.

One of the safest ways not to lose traditions is to not allow them to become museum exhibits but instead make them part of everyday life. The Setos have done exactly that by both accepting and rebelling against modernity

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Visitors to Soomaa can take hiking-, canoeand snowshoe hikes. In winter you can skate and push-sledge on the smooth ice fields created by nature. Animal spotting includes spotting beavers. The beaver trail, which starts by the Visitor’s Centre of the Soomaa National Park, is also suitable for wheelchairs and hikers with baby prams.

Watch the video: estonianway.com/ashwinbhardwaj

The Seto women’s folk costume is immediately recognised by the large brooch

Events calendar: Highlights from April to August Life in Estonia recommends

Jazzkaar Festival 19 – 28 April @ Tallinn

Võhandu Marathon 20 April @ Võhandu River, South Estonia

Tallinn Coffee Festival 26 – 27 April @ Tallinn Creative Hub

The largest jazz festival in the Baltic states celebrates its 30th birthday this year with shows all over Tallinn. This 10-day festival features the hottest local and international jazz talents, filling the whole city with great sounds and activities.

One of the world’s toughest and most beautiful canoeing marathons will be held in southern Estonia. The wonderful but extreme 100-kilometres long River Võhandu will give you an excellent opportunity to see the wild nature of Estonia.

Happening for the third time, the Tallinn Coffee Festival will bring the aromatic and delicious world of coffee to Tallinn Creative Hub on 26-27 April. It is a great opportunity to learn about diverse and special types of coffee, preparation methods and appliances. In addition, exciting barista competitions, street food and cafes, other hot beverages, activities for kids and entertaining music will await professionals and enthusiasts at this amazing family event.

www.jazzkaar.ee jazzkaar jazzkaar

www.vohandumaraton.ee Vohandu Maraton vohandumaraton

www.tallinncoffeefestival.ee TallinnCoffeeFestival

Haapsalu Horror and Fantasy Film Festival (HÕFF) 26 – 28 April @ Haapsalu A three-day independent film festival focusing on the best genre films from recent years, exploring the darker and odder side of cinema: from fantasy to horror, forgotten classics and special retrospectives to extreme films.

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Jõhvi Ballet Festival 27 April – 5 May @ Jõhvi The festival hosts both the performances of guest ballet companies and performances of numerous Estonian ballet studios. The versatile festival program meets the expectations of a wide audience, also including dance performances for children. concert.ee/en/kontserdi-kategooria /johvi-ballifestival-en Eesti Kontsert

World Music Days & Estonian Music Days 2 – 10 May @ Tallinn and Tartu The theme of 2019’s “Through the Forest of Songs” festival is dedicated to choral music.

The performers include the Estonian National Symphonic Orchestra, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Estonian National Male Choir, Ellerhein Girls’ Choir, Collegium Musicale, Vox Clamantis, etc.

HeadRead Literary Festival 22 – 26 May @ Tallinn The Tallinn HeadRead literary festival is run by Estonian writers, publishers and translators.

The international guests of this year’s festival include the renowned and beloved British author Julian Barnes, the Swedish journalist and writer David Lagercrantz who has successfully continued the Millennium series of Stieg Larsson, and many other writers, translators, critics, playwrights, columnists, etc.

eestimuusikapaevad.ee www.headread.ee headreadfestival headreadfest headreadfestival

Night of Museums 18 May @ everywhere in Estonia

Tallinn Old Town Days 30 May – 2 June @ Tallinn

Once a year, on a Saturday evening in May, museums and memory institutions across Estonia open their doors late at night to celebrate the night of museums.

Tallinn Old Town Days is the biggest festival in the Old Town dedicated to the local cultural heritage and community. Various music, theatre, art and sports events are held during four days. This year’s motto is “Tallinn 800” to commemorate the first definitive mention of Tallinn in 1219.

www. muuseumioo.ee Muuseumioo

www.vanalinnapaevad.ee Tallinn Old Town Days

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Tartu Song Festival 20 – 22 June @ Tartu

Haapsalu Tchaikovsky Festival 26 – 29 June @ Haapsalu

The song festival is an event uniting thousands of performers, where choirs and wind instrument orchestras that have been specifically prepared for the festival perform Estonian music. The first song festival in Estonia took place in Tartu 150 years ago.

The Tchaikovsky Festival offers concerts in the historic resort town Haapsalu and its cosy venues. The main performer Janusz Wawrowski, who is the first violinist of the Warsaw Soloists, is playing the Stradivarius violin, the Estonian National Male Choir performs classical Russian choral music and many more performers enlighten the resort town.

www.tartulaulupidu.ee Tartu Laulupidu tartu.laulupidu

www.tchaikovskyfestival.ee haapsalutchaikovskyfestival haapsalutsaikovskifestival

Seto Folk 28 – 29 June @ Värska Seto Folk is a festival where experience is born and inspiration buds from the fusion of music and nature. The festival brings together travel and music lovers from all over the world and broadens the boundaries of performing arts culture. At this festival, vendors sell local crafts, genuine Seto food is served, home brewed beer is quaffed and Seto hospitality is enjoyed. www.setofolk.ee Seto Folk setofolk

12th Global Estonian Cultural Festival ESTO 27 June – 3 July @ Helsinki, Tartu and Tallinn The largest ever worldwide gathering of Estonians, ESTO 2019 aims to bring together Estonians and estophiles from around the world, establishing new international connections and reinforcing the bonds of our shared heritage and culture by celebrating our global Estonian identity together. estofestival.com/en/programme/ estofestival.com/en/

27th Song and 20th Dance Celebration ‘’My Fatherland is My Love’’ 4 – 7 July @ Kalev Central Stadium and Tallinn Song Festival Grounds The tradition of Song and Dance Celebrations brings together the entire country: whole generations from grandparents to grandchildren meet on the massive stage and almost half the population watches the concerts.

2019.laulupidu.ee/en/song-celebration

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I Land Sound 11 – 14 July @ Illiku islet

Viljandi Folk Music Festival 25 – 28 July @ Viljandi

The purpose of this exciting festival is to enjoy everything that beautiful nature, great music and art, friends, and the Estonian summer have to offer. A proper sea breeze and a ferry trip will remove your mask, and you will find yourself on the other shore. Islanders are known for sticking together and I Land Sound is no exception – electronic nightlife pioneers, artists and the locals join forces for an enriching event. ilandsound.ee I Land Sound ilandsound

The Viljandi Folk Music Festival is the strongest expression of a special mindset originating in the early 1990s. This mindset values tradition, heritage and a local identity. It tries to adapt ancient spiritual values to the modern way of life – to keep traditions alive and strengthen our national characteristics. The Viljandi Folk Music Festival has become one of the largest festivals of this kind in the Baltic and Nordic countries.

Shell Helix Rally Estonia 12 – 14 July @ South Estonia

Intsikurmu Music Festival 2 – 4 August @ Intsikurmu

Rally Estonia is a motor sport and entertainment event that will bring together the best rally drivers in Europe, who will compete with each other in Tartu and the curvy roads of Southern Estonia. It is the official Estonian and Latvian Championship as well as a stage of the FIA European Rally Cup and the official WRC promotion rally.

The three-day entertainment event will offer something for the whole family: the competition can be watched from the public areas, there will be a special start and finish ceremony in the heart of Tartu, as well as an exciting city stage.

The Intsikurmu Music Festival attracts people to the woods to find themselves and their predecessors through music. Charged with incredible, ancient energy, the festival venue situated under the tall trees is a beautiful sight.

A wide-ranging music programme exudes warmth and has a healing effect amid the hustle and bustle of modern times. Video installations, international acts and music with meaning is what the festival is all about.

www.rallyestonia.ee Rally Estonia rallyestonia

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www.viljandifolk.ee/en

intsikurmu.com/en Intsikurmu

Smoke Sauna Symphony 2 – 4 August @ Mooste Folgikoda in Southeast Estonia This one-act musical performance by Märt-Matis Lill, which is performed by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, musicians of the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra, actors and folk musicians, is inspired by Estonian lore, the Finnish national epic “Kalevala” and Hasso Krull’s “When Stones Were Still Soft“. The performance takes you to the world of ancient Estonian traditions where the legends of smoke sauna are told. Before the performance, you will have a possibility to take a look at the smoke sauna and visit the market place where local handicraft and food is sold. www.epcc.ee www.savvusann.ee

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